A Heaven From Hell's Despair
by SteampunkFairytale
Summary: Charles Swan and Susan Clearwater were murdered. Their killer was Renee Dwyer. Bella Swan, still reeling from the departure of the Cullens, and desperate to flee her psychopath mother, turns to her godfather, the one and only Tony Stark. She moves to New York, and meets the Avengers, falls in love with Steve Rogers, and finally becomes the person she was always meant to be.
1. Despair

**Hello Readers! As most of you probably know, all of my stories were recently deleted. Not to fear, I am back, and have brought my stories with me! I've condensed the old chapters into fewer, yet longer ones (yes, I'm finally going to start giving you longer chapters) and fixed some tiny mistakes that I made.** **And, as a little 'I'm sorry for being away so long' I've started the Bella/Thor story! Expect chapter 1 to be up in a couple of days.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the Avengers**

**Summary: Charles Swan and Susan Clearwater were murdered. Their killer, was Renee Dwyer, Bella Sawn, still reeling from the departure of the Cullens, and desperate to flee her psychopath mother, turns to her godfather, the one and only Tony Stark. Follow her as she Moves to New York, Falls in love, fights a war, and finds a true family.**

* * *

It had been months since that dated day. The day her life had crashed down around her, just with one little sentence.

"We're leaving."

Months she spent, wallowing in her own misery, before she was snapped out of it by the worst thing that could ever happen, her father's death.

Bella stood, strait as a poker, an expression of utter despair on her face. But her eyes were dry, she had cried all of her tears long ago.

Charlie's coffin was simple, black wood. It did nothing to show what an amazing person her father was. Pain was what flowed through Bella's veins now, not the sweet smelling blood that Edward had craved more than anything else.

Edward. The thought of him still hurt, but the wound to her heart had scabbed over. Something about having your father murdered that gets you over your ex real quickly.

Renee stood beside her, fake tears falling. Bella knew her mother held no real pain over Charlie's death. It wasn't until too late that Charlie and Bella found out that Rene was a psychotic bitch. Not until Charlie had finally found love again.

Leah and Seth Clearwater stood on Bella's other side, alternating between looking sorrowfully at their mother's coffin, and glaring at Renee. They knew, just as Bella did, who was responsible for their parent's deaths.

The double funeral was over, and the sympathetic finally gone. Leah and Seth had gone back to the reservation, leaving Bella with Renee. Bella restrained herself from attacking her one time mother, who was going to get away with murder. If only she could find proof. But it was not meant to be. Like her and Edward.

Her mother was talking excitedly about them going back to Jacksonville. But there was no way she was going to live with this murderess. She already had made her plans. But, quite frankly, she was scared at what her mother would do to her if she defied her. So she quietly nodded along with her mo... With Renee. Not her mother, never her mother.

She had already written the letter which was to explain her flight and lay a false trail should she look.

Mom,

The reason this letter is here is because I don't know how to say goodby to your face. I have to get away, and Jacksonville isn't far enough. America is too close to the Cullens. By the time you read this, I'll be on my way to England.  
I love you, but I need time to be my own woman. So I guess this is goodbye for now.

Much love,  
-Bella

It was nearing midnight, she had to leave soon, she was ready, and the note was pinned to the fridge. She was just waiting for her ride, which eventually came. But instead of Jacob, who she had been expecting, it was Leah.

The she wolf stepped out of her car, and quietly lifted her small luggage into the trunk. Bella wanted to ask why it was her here instead, but Renee was a light sleeper, they needed to get going fast.

They were speeding away, on their way to La Push, where Bella was planning to spend the night, before flying to New York in the morning. She knew that she would be safe there. Her father's old friend had assured her of that. Charlie always told her to go to him if she was in trouble, so she did. He told her that it was no trouble, that he owed it to her father to take care of her.

When they arrived, it was at Sam and Emily's house. The lights were on, and she could see that the whole pack was there. She was immediately engulfed by the pack, drowning in the bear hugs administrated. Loud exclamations that she would be missed accompanying them. Eventually she was swept up in arms she recognized as Jacob's.

"Hey Bells, sorry I couldn't pick you up, but Emily's due any day now and Sam's been twitchy." He explained, gesturing to a heavily pregnant Emily. Bella smiled at Emily and nodded in greeting.

"It's fine Jake, really." She said.

"Yeah, but you got stuck with little miss sunshine over here." He responded, frowning teasingly at Leah, who socked his arm. Jacob pouted at her, and leant in for a kiss, which Leah happily responded to. Everyone just smiled at the recent imprintees, amused by their honeymoon phase.

Well, now that Bella is safely here, it's time for bed." Emily said sternly. The boys and Leah all whined and complained, but they obeyed. Sleeping bags were brought out, popcorn was made, and a movie popped in.

Everyone insisted that Bella take the couch, and even Sam looked tempted to join them when they were all settled, they were so cozy. Emily walked around to each member of the pack, kissing them in a motherly fashion. She eventually came over to Bella.

"Goodnight Bella, I'll miss you dearly." She said. Bella smiled softly at her.

"I'll miss you too Emily, goodnight." She said.

Bella's eyes focused on the movie, but she wasn't paying attention. She drifted off to sleep, her mind as close to a peaceful state as she can get now.

* * *

Bella stood in the driveway, in front of Leah's car. Everyone was hugging her, again and again, telling her how much they would miss her. Emily embraced her, crying, while Sam kept a watchful eye on his wife. She promised to call often, and was hugged once more. Emily looked at her watch.

"You've got to get going, you'll be late!" She exclaimed, and promptly had Bella in the car, and watching her friends slowly grow into specs. Just before she lost sight of them, she saw a rippling, followed by several wolves howling in unison. Their goodbye.

The airport in Seattle was busy, but she managed to make her way through. She gave her name at the desk, and was hurried of in the right direction.

The private Jet was waiting, all ready to go, and in front of it, waiting for her, was the one and only Tony Stark, who had personally come to collect her.

"Well, if it isn't little Ellie, all grown up." Said Tony, wiping a fake tear from his eye. He had always called her Ellie, or Ella. Bella smiled at him.

"Well, if it isn't Uncle Tony, with more gray in his hair than when I last saw him. It's good to see you again old man." She teased. Tony smiled at her and pulled her in for a hug. He wasn't her real uncle, but he had had a big enough part in her life that she called him that.

"It's good to see you too Bells, now come on, lets stall the gooey lovey reunion for when we're in the air." He said, steering her onto the jet.

Bella sat back in her chair happy to be finally leaving the rainy town of Forks behind. Tony sat across from her, nursing a drink. He quickly finished it.

"I bet you feel like shit huh?" He asked abruptly, startling Bella. When what he asked sunk in she sighed.

"Yeah." She said. Tony poured himself another drink, but this time, he poured a second glass. At her look he said.

"Just take it miss goody goody, I won't tell anyone." He said with an eye roll. She took it, and took a small, tentative sip. She had never really had any alcohol before, and she found she kind of liked the burn it caused.

"So, you said you knew who it was, but don't have any proof?" Tony asked, referring to her father's murder. Bella nodded.

"It was Renee." She said bluntly. Tony swore loudly.

"Son of a bitch! I knew that woman was certifiable. I told Charlie that she was no good!" He continued under his breath for a few minutes, before he stopped.

"That's why you came to me." He said. She nodded. Tony leaned forward and took her hand.

"She's not gonna get her claws into you Ellie, I promise." He said firmly. Bella nodded once again. Tony smirked at her.

"So miss Broody, Dark and Beautiful, leaving any broken hearts in Forks?" He asked slyly. Bella snorted.

"Ask anyone in Forks Tony, I'm the one with the broken heart."

Tony, who had had his legs propped up in a table, lowered them at once.

"Did someone hurt you Bella? Does uncle Iron have to get his armor out and blast someone to a pulp?"

Bella wanted to laugh. "I've told you, no matter what you seem to think, that name does not sound tough at all. And no, you wouldn't be able to beat Edward up anyways." She said.

"Why, because he's a vampire?" Tony asked suddenly.

Bella stared at Tony for a full minute before she found her voice.

"What are you talking about?" She asked atoundedly.

"Edward Cullen, your ex boyfriend, is a Vampire." Tony said slowly. Bella gaped at him again.

"And for the record, I could totally kick his ass. The Armor has weapons specifically made to kill Vampires now." He said in a mock offended tone.

"So, how did all that happen?" He asked curiously. Bella told her story, still in shock that he knew. Tony watched her intently as she spoke, so she wasn't able to hide the pain clear on her face when she told Tony how Edward had broken up with her.

"That asshole!" Tony yelled when she was done. "That's it, I'm gonna track down that bastard and make him regret ever _looking_ at you! No ones messes with **my** goddaughter!"

"Tony calm down! It's fine! You can't go after him yourself; his family wouldn't let you hurt him." Bella reasoned.

"It's not gonna be just me, I'm bringing the rest of the team with me on this one. Ooh Bruce, Thor and Capsicle are gonna have a field day with that little shit." Tony said delightedly.

"Why?" Bella asked, confused.

"Well, aside from the fact that any of the three of them can take on a Vampy any day, they all have issues with people being mistreated. Oh, that reminds me." He rose and walked over to some sort of projector. When it turned on, a holographic picture showed up.

"Since you're going to be living with the Avengers, you have to know who they are." He said with a grin.

"Wouldn't a file or something work?" Bella asked, sighing with a tired smile on her face at her godfather's antics.

"Yes, but this is more fun." Tony said.

Two holograms, side by side appeared. Tony and Iron Man.

"This is Tony Stark, the coolest, smartest, and most attractive member of the team." Tony said, imitating a school teacher like voice.

"I know who you are Tony." Bella laughed.

"No interrupting Miss Swan. Now, the superhero alter ego of the amazing Tony Stark is The Super Awesome Invincible Iron Man." He said, causing Bella to laugh and shake her head at his antics. Next showed a picture of an intimidating looking woman in her twenties, with short curly red hair.

"This is Natasha Romanov, the scary assassin. Don't get on her bad side, because she can and will make your life hell. Her code name is Black Widow." Next up were pictures of a guy about Tony's age, and beside him, the Hulk, who had a bus lifted over his head.

"This is Bruce Banner, the second smartest member of the team, with the biggest anger management issues you'll ever see. His super hero name is the Hulk, but I call him Brucie Bear, because he doesn't mind when I cuddle with him." Bella laughed again, how could she forget her godfather's cuddle addiction?

He had spent hours watching Disney movies with her when she was little, Bella curled up in his side. He blamed her of being the cause of his addiction; that he had gotten too used to it when she stayed with him one summer.

She remembered fondly how he had bought out Disneyland for an entire day for her birthday, and let her drag him anywhere she wanted. And how he always cheered with her whenever the end of one of the movies came, and true love won out. Tony was the best godfather that anyone could ever ask for.

"This is Thor, like from the Norse myths, he's literally _that_ Thor, from Asgard." A big, blonde man in old style battle armor and carrying a giant hammer was shown next. And then a guy with a bow showed up.

"This is my buddy Clint Barton, codename Hawkeye. He's a deadeye with a bow and arrow, and one fun guy to have around." Up came another side by side photo, a handsome blonde guy that looked to be in his early twenties, in a simple t-shirt and jeans. Next to that was a hologram of the same man, in blue spandex, with a large white star on his chest. He carried a large round shield, again with a star on the center. He looked like a walking American flag.

"And this is our fearless leader, Captain America, who goes by Steve Rogers." It was strange, Tony talked about the other members of the team by their first names, and then their code names, but he referred to Steve Rogers as Captain America, like _that_ was his name.

They talked about little things for a few hours, before Bella remembered something.

"How do you know about vampires?" She asked. Tony frowned.

"Well, there was a mission, you know, the usual, destroy planet Earth, yadda yadda yadda, except we were loosing, _badly_. The Volturi approached us then, and offered their help, because they didn't want to get blown to bits either. They didn't tell us that they were Vampires though, and we all just assumed they were mutants, you know, like the one's in Xavier's school? So, we all teamed up and saved the day, all that good stuff, and then they just crawled back into their holes, while we went for shwarma." He frowned then.

"The Volturi had been acting strange the entire time, like they had wanted to rip out our throats, so, when I got back to the tower, I decided it was time to pay a visit to my old friend, the SHEILD computer systems, see if I could dig up some information on them. Turns out, SHEILD had known about Vampires for years, and they had been helping them stay off the radar. But, in true SHEILD fashion, I also found plans for weapons that could take them out." Tony smiled evilly then.

"I improved the plans a bit, and made some weapons for the team, you know, just in case." He winked, and then continued.

"There have been a couple of... Disagreements between the team and the Volturi now and then, but we're on ok terms with them now. But that doesn't mean that they intend to keep it that way. The Volturi rubbed all of us the wrong way, they reminded me a bit of Loki actually. So we always keep an eye on them, in case they decide that they've had enough of trying to get along with us." He finished his explanation, but there was something she still didn't quite get.

"How did you know about Edward?" She asked.

"The Cullen's work with SHEILD from time to time, their leader, the doctor trying to create a blood supplement, since the animal diet wasn't really catching on. They had a file on each of them, and a list of the places they lived. It wasn't hard to guess who your boyfriend was when I heard the name." He shrugged. Bella nodded, in deep thought, while she would love to see the Cullen's again, she didn't think she could take another rejection from people that she had considered family.

They went back to talking about this and that then, but eventually, Bella settled down to take a nap, she hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

Hours later she was woken by Tony.

"Come on Ellie, wake up, we're here." He said, shaking her. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked out the window, she could see Stark tower from here. Her new home.

"Welcome back to New York Ellie."


	2. Getting to Know You

There was a car waiting for them at the airport, and the trip would have been short except for the traffic, but they eventually made it to Stark Tower. Pepper Potts, Tony's girlfriend was waiting for them just inside. She quickly kissed Tony and wrapped her arms around Bella in a tight hug.

"It's good to see you again Bella." She said.

"You too Pepper." She answered, hugging her back. Pepper turned to face both of them then.

"Everyone's upstairs, and Fury sent Phil to meet Bella." She said. Tony groaned.

"Really, she just got here! Couldn't Fury have given her even an hour to settle in before he leaps down her throat? I told him, she's my goddaughter, and her father just died, there is nothing unusual about her coming to live here. I swear, he thinks I have an ulterior motive for every act of kindness I perform! At least Rogers varies it with thinking I'm bored from time to time!" Tony ranted, with the two women standing to the side and talking quietly.

"So, you want to have a girl's day sometime? It might help your breakup blues." Pepper asked. At Bella's mystified look she said.

"You've got the whole 'I've been dumped and am sorely in need of cookie dough look." Bella glanced at the reflection of herself in the mirror nearby. She did look kinda sorta depressed.

She was pretty today, she guessed. Emily and Leah had said she looked nice. Her hair was pulled back into a French braid, Emily had insisted that she do her hair, and she did it well, a few strands that she had left loose framing her face. She was wearing a simple blue button down blouse and jeans, she was traveling after all. But she saw her overly pale and thin face, and her eyes that looked incredibly dull, even for her. Her loose blouse hid the protruding ribs well, but the air of frailty was still there, like the slightest breath might blow her away.

"Well, lets just get this over with." Came Tony's voice. They walked over to the elevator, someone following after them with Bella's luggage.

The elevator was fast. A few seconds and they were at the housing floors right at the top. The rest of the Avengers were lounging on couches and chairs, the massive Thor getting a couch to himself. There was a man Bella hadn't seen in the holograms Tony had shown her, he had short dark brown hair, and was wearing an immaculate black suit. Everything about him screamed "order".

When they spotted that they had arrived, they all crowded around, introducing themselves.

Thor took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it.

"Lady Bella, it is good to meet you!" He boomed. Yeah, he wasn't from around here, that's for sure.

Clint was shaking her hand now, and saying something that she didn't hear. Natasha did however, and smacked him across the back of his head.

Bruce Banner was a quiet, shy man, who was very genuine about wishing her a happy stay. He reminded her a bit of Angela.

Natasha Romanov had been imposing as the hologram, but she was even more so in real life. She, like Pepper, had spotted the break up look right away.

"Rough break up?" She asked as she shook hands. Bella, who had decided to just go with the flow by now, frowned and nodded.

"Don't worry, Pepper and I can take care of that." Natasha said confidently. Pepper nodded in confirmation to her best friend. Bella guessed the redheads had to stick together.

"Uh oh, Nat and Pepper just adopted you, run Bella run!" Clint said, earning him another smack and two death glares from the red headed women. Steve Rogers stepped forward, and extended his hand.

"It's nice to meet you ma'am, I'm Steve." He said with a small smile, taking her hand gently, as though he was afraid he would crush it, and giving it a warm shake.

"Please, call me Bella. It's nice to meet you Steve." She said, smiling back at him. The man in the suit stepped forward.

"Phil Coulson, Agent of SHIELD. Good to meet you." He said, extending his hand. Unlike everyone else, whose handshakes were warm, welcoming and friendly, Agent Coulson's handshake was firm, unmoving and suspicious.

"Oh lay off Phil, this girl is obviously not a spy, look at the way she carries herself, and no spy could fake being that clumsy, she almost fell down shaking my hand! Even I couldn't do that." Natasha said, putting a protective arm around her. The women led her to a couch, and sat on either side of her.

Tony looked at Bella, who nodded. He had asked her if he could fill the team in about her...issues, and Bella had agreed, they already knew about vampires anyways. Apparently Tony either trusted Coulson, or figured he would find out anyways. But before he could begin, Coulson got a call on his phone. He talked to the person on the other end for a minute, and then hung up.

"I have to go, I've been called in, urgent matter. It was nice to meet you Bella." He said as he walked out the door. Everyone looked at Tony, who looked very pleased with himself.

"What did you do now?" Pepper asked tiredly.

"Called in a favor." Tony replied in a smug voice. He glanced at Bella again.

"You know, there is a reason Bella's coming to live with me, but... Oh quit it Rogers, you don't even know the reason yet!" Steve had given Tony a deeply disappointed and angry look.

"As I was saying, there is a reason that she's here and not with her mother. It's because her mother is responsible for her Father and his girlfriend's deaths. Now, we don't have proof, but we know it was her. That's why she's living here Mr. Judgey, I just thought you all might like to know."

Pepper's arms were around Bella too now, and Natasha tightened her grip slightly, while most if the men in the room subconsciously arranged themselves in defensive positions. It was like their first basic instinct screamed 'Protect!'

For most, they just stiffened up and glanced around the room, but Steve went so far as to get up from his chair and start pacing the space between the back of Bella's couch and the window, as if on guard duty. Another look from Tony, another small nod. Natasha, who had seen it exclaimed, "There's more?" Both nodded.

"Bella, she recently went through a bit of a nasty breakup... With a vampire."

He then quickly told Bella's story, everyone listening intently. When he finished, the room was silent. Everyone had been inching closer to Bella throughout the story, and now everyone was crowded around the couch. No one spoke, but Bella could tell that everyone was furious. Pepper and Natasha looked like mother Bears, protecting their little cub. Steve had moved from behind the couch to stand in front of her, frozen like an immovable statue. The look on his face was deadly, just as bad as Tony's had been when he had first told her story on the plane. Suddenly the quiet was switched off, and the shouting began.

"That bastard is just begging to get his ass beat!" Clint yelled.

"That vampire needs be taught a lesson or two on respect. To treat A woman in such a poor manner is most shameful behavior." Thor agreed.

"I say we just go strait for where the sun don't shine." Natasha said with a stony face.

"In my opinion he's one of the poorest excuses of a man that I've ever heard of. From what you've said, he was raised to act like a gentleman, but he ended up acting like a pig." Steve said, a deep, disgusted frown on his handsome face.

"I say we go thrash the lot, they _all_ left Bella without saying goodbye, and after saying that she was a part of their family! Who do they think they are? Pulling that crap on _my_ family?" Tony said angrily.

_"And they don't even know about Victoria."_ Bella thought with a grimace. Unfortunately, Natasha saw the look on her face at once.

"Wait a second, there's more, isn't there?" She demanded. Bella was sure she looked like a deer in the headlights. All eyes immediately snapped to her.

"What is it Bella?" Tony asked seriously.

"N-nothing?" She stuttered.

_"__**Isabella Swan, what are you keeping from us?**__"_ Tony said in a tone of voice she had never heard from him before. She sighed, giving in.

"You remember that the tracker James had a mate? Well...she swore she would have revenge for James' death, and Edward thought that she might go after me. He was really protective for a while." She said quietly. _"Until he left". _The nasty part of her brain whispered to her.

" He knew someone might try to kill you _and he still left_?" Steve said angrily.

"That does it, I'm gonna go kill that little piece of shit and his entire fucking family!" Tony yelled.

"I am with you, Man of Iron!" Thor said, summoning his hammer from the other side of the room.

"Me too, I wanna stick an arrow up that dick's asshole." Clint said, leaving the room to go suit up. Natasha rose from the couch and left too. There came an angry roar.

"**Hulk smash puny sparkle man! Sparkle man hurt Bella, Sparkle man get smashed!**" The Hulk said angrily. Bella started, surprised at the sudden transformation from Bruce to the Hulk. Tony walked up to the Hulk and patted his giant green arm.

"Couldn't have said it better myself buddy." He said. Hulk looked over to Bella, who had relaxed herself by now.

"**Bella not afraid of Hulk?"** He asked curiously. Bella shook her head, because she _wasn't_ afraid of him.

"Of course she isn't Buddy, Bella's like me. Incredibly awesome." He said. Hulk turned to Bella.

"**Hulk** **like Bella. Bruce like Bella too. Hulk smash people who hurt Bella.**" He said. Bella smiled and walked over to him.

"I like you too Buddy, and I like Bruce as well. I'm not sure if I would be able to smash anything though." She said. Hulk grunted.

"**That ok, Hulk smash for Bella too**." He said. Bella smiled at him.

"Thanks Buddy." She said. Steve, who had fallen silent at the most recent revelation about Edward, stepped forward.

"I'm going to, I'd like the chance to teach that boy some manners." He said with an angry expression on his face.

"Yeah? Get in line Capsicle, I'm going first." Tony snorted.

Bella was conflicted, a part of her still loved the Cullens, and always would. But another part, that quickly proved to be the dominant part, enjoyed the thought of them being scared senseless by the Avengers.

"Can I come?" She found herself asking. Tony smiled wickedly, while Steve frowned.

"Miss Swan, I think it would be safer for you to remain..." He started.

"In a city that is almost constantly under attack with no one to look after her? And there is no way I'm letting the Fantastic Four do it, Reed, Sue and Grimm might be ok, but there is no way I'm letting Johnny Storm anywhere near my goddaughter. He's waaaaay too much like me, no matter if he _does_ look exactly like you." Tony said firmly. He then winked at Bella.

"And I told you, please call me Bella." She said to him, winking back at Tony. Steve raised his hands in defeat.

"Fine, but at least give her something to defend herself with. I don't want anyone getting hurt." He said, pinching the bridge of his nose. Tony and Bella exchanged a glance.

"I plan to." Tony said with a grin.

Tony led Bella down a labyrinth of hallways, and down several sets of stairs. They reached a heavy looking door, with a keypad next to it. He typed in a number, and the door slid open.

"Welcome to the workshop Ellie." He said in a dramatic manner. Causing Bella to smile at him.

"Why thank you Mr. Stark." Bella said as she walked in. There were robots everywhere. Literally, the floor was crawling with them. And... Was that toaster repeatedly ramming the coffee machine?

"Hey! Stop ramming the coffee maker, you know she doesn't like that! And if she cuts me off again because of you, you're gonna be spare parts really quickly buddy." Tony said to the toaster, who abruptly stopped ramming the coffee maker.

"You made a toaster and a coffee maker sentient?" Bella questioned skeptically. "Was Jarvis lonely or something?"

"No Princess, Sir merely did it to amuse himself." Jarvis said to her. She grinned.

"Tony still has that program running?" She asked.

"Indeed." Jarvis responded.

At first Jarvis had called her Miss Isabella, but she hated being called Isabella all the time, so she asked Tony to change it. He promised to do so, but instead of having Jarvis call her Bella, he had Jarvis start to call her Princess. Bella had loved it when she was little, and she still enjoyed it now, because it reminded her of the happy times she had spent visiting.

"So," Tony began. "I would suit you up with your own armor, but there's no time to make one for you. But... I do have some fun new toys for you to play with." He said wickedly.

"My goddaughter can't go into a situation where things might get heavy simply wearing jeans, now can she? It would look too weird with all the awesome gadgets I'm gonna give her." He said with a smile. Bella felt a smile grow on her face as well.

"Well, I'd hate to look weird." She said. Tony looked downright like a mad scientist.

"Well, it so happens that a bad-ass uniform can be put together much quicker than a suit of armor, I'm gonna call Natasha and Pepper down here to work on ideas. It'll take a few hours to track down the Cullens anyways." He said.

"Jarivs? Tell Pepper and Natasha that they're needed in the workshop ASAP, we have a uniform to make in a small amount of time to make it in."

* * *

Bella stood in front of a mirror in her new bedroom, or should she say apartment? Everyone had their own floor in Stark Tower, and Bella was no different. Natasha, Pepper, and Tony were with her, the latter two looking on as Natasha did Bella's hair.

Bella's uniform was made out of an ultra strong, dark grey fabric that zipped up her front. There were seams just below her collarbone, and curving inwards slightly, which had given her a more curvaceous look than she actually had. The panels above the seam at the collarbone, and the panel over the very center of her stomach and chest was dark red. She was wearing knee high boots the same dark grey as her uniform, as well as a grey utility belt. The belt was full of fun little "toys" that Tony had shown her. Grenades full of a chemical that burns Vampire skin, a device that sends out a particular electrical currency that could be set to either stun Vampires, or cause them extreme pain, a knife that could pierce Vampire skin, and other little things of that nature.

Natasha tried several hairstyles, before she decided to leave it down. She attacked Bella's hair with a curling wand then, using different ends of the wand so every curl was different. When she was done, her hair hung down her back in a lovely curly waterfall, so much nicer than her loose, untamed waves. It made absolutely no sense to put on makeup, but Natasha did. Eyeliner was carefully placed, and dark red lipstick quickly followed. Natasha took a step back, tilting her head to the side, appraising her work. "Very nice." She approved with a small smile.

"Perfect." Pepper agreed.

"You look awesome Ellie, if I didn't know you I'd think that you would beat my ass into the ground at any second." Tony commented.

"Why am I wearing makeup?" Bella asked. The other three exchanged a look.

"To make a statement." Natasha said simply.

"No one messes with a Stark." Tony said. "Eddie boy needs to see that you're not his play toy."

"Technically, I'm not a Stark." Bella pointed out.

"Details!" Tony waved it off. "And I could have you're name changed anytime if you like, one phone call, it wouldn't even be five minutes." Bella raised an eyebrow.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said. She had always liked Stark better than Swan. Isabella Maria Stark, it sounded cool. Charlie had always been all for Bella being a Stark, in fact he wanted her last name to be changed to Stark when she was born, but Renee wouldn't have it. He had settled by giving Tony's mother's name as her middle name.

"By the way, I'll have an interior decorator called when we get back, so you can decorate your room how you like." Tony said, looking around. Bella looked around too. The room was nice, but it was a little bland, and she knew that Tony would insist, even if she refused, so she nodded.

"Excuse me Sir, but your trace has been completed, shall I sent the coordinates to the Avengers Jet?" Jarvis asked.

"Yeah Jarvis, go ahead." He said to his AI. "Come on guys, we have some Avenging to do." Pepper pulled Bella to the side before she could follow him.

"Just remember Bella, those... parts of a guy that are really sensitive on a human, are even more sensitive as a vampire." She said with a wink. A wicked grin spread across Bella's face.

"Thanks for the tip Pepper."

Bella, Tony and Natasha walked back into the living room, where the other Avengers were waiting. Thor was sprawled on the sofa, absently twirling his hammer, Steve was pacing agitatedly, Clint was in a little alcove that Bella just noticed, looking down at them all, and… Was the Hulk watching Sesame Street?

"Elmo!" The Hulk exclaimed happily when the little red… thing came on screen.

"We've got the coordinates." Tony said. All attention immediately snapped to him.

"What are we waiting for then?" Clint said. "Let's go whip some sparkling ass." He caught sight of Bella then. "Damn Bella, you suit up nice." He said, earning another whack upside the head from Natasha. Thor, Hulk and Steve's eyes were on her then.

"You do indeed look most fitting for battle, lady Bella." Thor said, kissing her hand again. Bella blushed.

"Thanks, Thor." She said. Steve looked her over. He suddenly turned a light shade of pink and looked at Tony.

"What did you give her Tony?" Steve said.

"Oh, just the basics. Grenades, knife, and the super taser." Tony said. Steve nodded.

"Good. Let's go." Steve ordered.

The Avengers jet was roomy. Bella was sitting next to Tony, Steve on her other side. Natasha was co-piloting the jet with Clint; and Thor sat across from her, fiddling with his hammer. Hulk just stood there, growling that the sparkle man was gonna get smashed. Everyone was in a state of agitation, eagerly awaiting their chance to kick Cullen butt. Steve turned to her.

"So, Tony never said that he had a goddaughter." Steve said interestedly.

"Yes he did." Natasha called out. "Well, rambles about her when he's drunk, talking about how she's the best person in the universe, yadda yadda yadda. That's probably why you never heard; you always leave the room when he's drunk." Clint snorted at that.

"Yeah, he goes on and on, spewing mushy stuff about her. He practically worships the ground she walks on."

"Shut it Legolas." Tony growled.

"Oh yeah? Make me buddy." Clint said with a teasing sneer.

"Oh, just shut it Katniss." Bella said with a smile. The whole jet burst out laughing.

"Katniss! Oh man, why didn't I think of that?" Tony laughed. Clint pouted and flew in silence after that.

She turned back to Steve, laughing still. His blue eyes were warm, but slightly distant, she knew the look well. He was lost, and she didn't blame him. One moment he was in the middle of a war, next he was in the present day, it must seem like an alien planet to him.

"Yeah, Tony tries to keep the press of my back by not saying much about me, I don't like the attention." She explained. This seemed to confuse Steve.

"You… don't like attention? Most people love it." He said. Bella shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm not really like most people, I just prefer to stick to the shadows, let other's take the spotlight. If it makes them happy, and I don't have to deal with it, then why not?" Bella said. Steve looked at her for a minute. Bella grew uncomfortable under his gaze.

"How about something to pass the time?" Bella asked. She saw Steve look almost relieved as his eye contact with her broke.

"Great idea Ellie! What do you think we should do?" Tony asked.

"We could play twenty questions?" Natasha offered.

"No way, that game should be renamed : Let Natasha snoop around your brain and find out what makes you tick through the most insane of details." Clint scoffed.

"Well, Bella's new." Steve began and looked over at Bella again. "We could use the time to get to know each other."

"I second that." Natasha said.

"And that's why you're the leader Cap, the Star Spangled Man With a Plan." Tony said with a grin. "You go first Ells, ask a question, and we'll all answer."

"Er… ok, what's your favorite color?" Bella asked the first basic question that popped into her head.

"Red!" Tony and Clint chorused.

"Black." Natasha said. "And Bruce's, since he's… indisposed, is, in his own words, 'Anything but green'.

"Yellow!" Thor boomed. That took Bella by surprise, he didn't seem like the yellow type.

"It's blue." Steve said with a smile. "What's your favorite color?" he asked. Bella smiled at him.

"Mine's blue too." She said.

"Do you like to read?" Steve asked.

"I love to read! Especially the classics." Bella said enthusiastically.

"Me too! What's your favorite…?" Steve began, but was cut off by Tony's groan.

"Oh no, it's clash of the Scouts! Boy Scout and Girl Scout have a dialogue going! Time to duck for cover guys, they're gonna be spreading morality all over my Tower. And I just got it fixed from the Chitauri fiasco too!" Tony complained. Bella glowered playfully at her godfather.

"Would you cut it out with the Girl Scout jokes? Seriously, every time I visit, you bring up my past as a Scout. It's getting kina old." Bella said with a mock scowl. She turned back to Steve.

"Well, I don't really have just one favorite book. I'm a huge fan of 'The Wizard of Oz', though." She told him. Steve brightened visibly and sighed in relief.

"I was afraid you might say a book that I've never read, I love that book." He said with a bright smile. Bella felt the ache in her heart lessen a bit when she saw that genuinely happy smile on his face, and felt her mask fall a bit, revealing a true smile of her own.

"Been having trouble assimilating modern literature?" she asked with a grin. Steve turned pink again and nodded sheepishly. She smiled at him.

"I could help you a bit if you like; I'm pretty good with that stuff." She offered. Steve looked like she had just turned into an angel.

"That would be amazing, thank you!" He exclaimed. Her smile got larger.

"It's not a problem, I just have to make sure I keep up with my schoolwork, but in my free time I'd be more than happy to help you out. Oh, that reminds me…" She turned to Tony. "What am I going to be doing about school?" She asked.

"I've submitted a letter to the school district saying that you were going to be homeschooled." Tony said. "I'm sure Bruce would be happy to help you out if you like, he's more the teaching type than I am. It's not really necessary though, didn't you already graduate?"

"Yeah, but I like to keep up with my studies."

"I thought we were using this time to get to know one another?" Thor asked.

"You're right Thor, we're straying from the topic at hand! Widow, your turn, ask a question!" Tony said.

"Well, might as well keep it simple, what's your favorite flower?" Natasha asked.

"Lilies." Bella responded at once.

"What's your favorite movie?" came Clint's question.

"Lord of the Rings." Bella said with a smile. "And I for one, thought Legolas was awesome."

"Hell yeah!" Clint yelled happily. "Another Ringer! And Legolas is the absolute best!"

"What is your favorite food, lady Bella? Mine is pop tarts!" Thor boomed. Bella covered her ears at his loud voice.

"You get used to it after a while." Steve whispered in her ear, the quiet nice after Thor made her ears ring.

"I like pancakes." Bella told Thor.

Things went along those lines for hours, Bella revealing that her favorite music was rock, her favorite soda was Cola, that she didn't have a favorite subject in school, and stuff along those lines. Sooner than Bella had expected, they were nearing the Cullen's location.

The anticipation returned with a vengeance, Tony suiting up, all of them mentally readying themselves, Bella most of all. These were the people that broke her heart, leaving her mentally weak for Charlie's death, the memory of finding his and Sue's bodies still all too fresh in her mind, and smelling her mother's perfume all over the bodies. Why those policemen hadn't believed her, she might never know. There had been evidence, but they simply refused to see it. She snapped out of her painful memory.

"_Stay focused."_ She mentally chastised herself. They stepped out into the… well, it wasn't sunny here, it was far too much like Forks, all foggy and gloomy. The perfect habitation for Vampires.

"So, what's the plan, we can't exactly knock on the door." Clint pointed out. They were saved the trouble of figuring that out. The Cullens were slowly filing into the clearing they had landed in; all of them had relaxed looks on their faces, but their posture screamed tenseness. Bella noticed something, someone was missing. Where was Edward? But she caught a flash of bronze in the treeline, before he slowly stepped out from the shadows.


	3. Family Lost, Family Gained

"Bella!" Edward said, in a voice that once dazzled her. He made to go to Bella, but was stopped abruptly by Alice.

"No Edward!" She yelled urgently. Edward struggled for a moment, but slumped once a wave of calm hit the area like a ton of bricks. Somehow, the Avengers and Bella went unaffected by Jasper's gift, maintaining the same level of anger as before.

"Bella, love, what are you doing with these people? They could hurt you!" Edward asked in a tone of voice that used to make Bella melt, but she found had no affect on her anymore.

"She's not your love you gay emo pixie! You broke her heart! Completely shattered her, and no one messes with a Stark pretty boy, _nobody_." Tony snarled.

"What are you talking about, you idiot?" Rosalie snapped. "She's not a Stark, she's a Swan.

"She's my goddaughter Barbie." Tony informed the Blonde.

"And I'm not going to be a Swan much longer. I'm changing my name to Stark once I get home." Bella said in a calm, steady voice. _She could do this._

"What about Charlie, Bella? Why would you go and abandon him and his name like that?" Carlisle asked in a reprimanding, fatherly tone.

"You have absolutely no right to criticize me Carlisle, none of you do. You forfeited any hold you had over me when you left. _Without saying goodbye._ I've made my choice, and you can keep your fat mouths shut." Bella said angrily. "I obviously wasn't more than a plaything to any of you, so do everyone a favor and keep your noses out of my business. And as for Charlie, he's _dead_, so there goes that argument."

Edward suddenly froze. He gave the Avengers a panicked look.

"You told them about us? How could you Bella?" Edward said in a betrayed voice.

"You little Bitch!" Rosalie yelled, launching for Bella. She was stopped mid leap by an arrow exploding some sort of substance on her. Her skin started to smoke; and she screamed and ran for the river nearby. Emmet's angry roar filled the clearing, and he charged at Clint, but was promptly tackled by the Hulk. Rosalie came back then, spitting and snarling. She went for Bella _again_, but this time was stopped by a repulser beam from Tony. She was thrown back, and Esme growled at Tony.

"That's my daughter you bastard!" She roared, springing at Tony, who blasted her back too, which caused Carlisle, who had always been the diplomat, to join the fight.

Rosalie was not giving up, she kept going for Bella, but she crumpled against Steve's shield, who had darted in front of Bella just in the nick of time. He looked back at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Bella nodded quickly, causing a relieved look to pass Steve's face. He lowered his shield, and Bella glimpsed a faraway look in Alice's eyes, she was having a vision. Jasper was crouched protectively in front of her, a deadly look in his eyes.

"**NO!**" Edward roared, and ran at Steve, who jumped out of the way quickly, pulling Bella along with him.

"You can't have her, she's mine!" Edward snarled, desperately trying to get to Steve, who kept avoiding the onslaught just in time. Edward abruptly changed tactics and launched at Bella, grabbing her by the throat. She desperately tried to pry his iron hands away from her, but she was no match.

"You hear that you little bitch?" he hissed in her ear. "You're mine." Bella desperately grasped at one of the objects Tony had given her, the knife, and, in Natasha's words, went strait for 'where the sun don't shine'.

Edward collapsed on the ground, whimpering and clutching his Er… 'private area'. Steve lifted him up by the collar of his shirt, a stony expression on his face. Edward struggled, trying to get free, but was no match for Captain America. He was thrown down to the ground, his diamond skin cracking a bit. Edward got up quickly, and made to attack again, swinging an arm at him. Steve caught it without a second thought, twisting it, and proceeded to start beating Edward into a Vampiric coma. Bella was suddenly hit by a ton of bricks, Blonde bricks.

As she went down, she saw the battles going on around her. Tony and Thor were fighting Carlisle, who was more feral looking than Bella had even thought possible, trying to get at Natasha, who was thoroughly beating Esme. Clint and Jasper were locked in a death battle, while Hulk and Emmett kept throwing themselves at each other, causing the clearing to ring with the sound of the impact. Alice was in the shadows, keeping out of the fray. That ended when Clint got Jasper in the eye. She snarled and rushed to her mate's defense, but was cut off by Natasha, who had put Esme temporarily out of action.

She was brought back to her own fight by Rosalie hissing in her ear.

"I knew we couldn't trust you, you little bitch. I warned them that you were no good. I'm gonna have some fun with you, that way you will be nice and submissive for your mate." Rosalie said evilly, smiling cruelly. Bella brought her hand- which was still thankfully holding the knife- up, slashing Rosalie's beautiful face. Rosalie leapt back, venom pouring from the wound. She was swearing again, clutching her face. Bella pressed her advantage, grabbing the 'Super Taser', quickly and setting it to stun, zapping Rosalie with it at once.

Rosalie screamed loudly, causing all the battles to stop at once, even The Hulk froze for a moment. She fell to the ground, temporarily paralyzed.

"Rose!" Emmett yelled, making to go for his wife. The Hulk seized his chance, and got his massive green hands around the bear like vampire, smashing him into trees, the ground, everything. Soon Emmett was like a multi faceted diamond, covered in cracks. Hulk dropped him to the ground, and Emmett didn't get up, just lying on the ground, clutching his stomach tightly. They were all in a line on the ground, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett and Edward, who was starting to recover from Steve's beat down. Tony was there at once.

"My turn." Came his angry voice. Tony then proceeded to unload his entire arsenal at Edward, repulsers, even small missiles. Edward was powerless to stop it, too weak from fighting Steve. The other Cullens still in action made to help their family member, but stopped when they caught sight of the other Avengers, looking ready to kill, and had barley broken a sweat. The same couldn't be said for Bella. She wasn't seriously damaged, which was saying something, but she wasn't sure she would be able to speak for a bit, since she was throttled _twice_, by two different vampires in the course of an hour.

She was still lying on the ground, exhausted from Rosalie's attack. Her throat was killing her; she was out of breath, and so incredibly tired. A red gloved hand entered her line of vision; she looked up to see Steve, offering to help her up. She smiled weakly at him, and gratefully accepted the hand. He pulled her up with ease, barley even sweating from his fight with Edward.

"You ok Bella?" He asked concernedly. She managed a stronger smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I'm just in serious need of some cough drops, and a week long nap." She croaked out. Steve nodded understandingly, and gave her a slight smile.

"That can be arranged." He said, his smile growing slightly. She offered a small smile back.

"You did good out there Bella." He told her as Tony finished with Edward, letting Thor have his turn, who gave a loud battle cry at once, and struck her ex down with several bolts of lightning, and hitting him repeatedly with Mjölnir.

"Good? She was fucking awesome! She kicked Barbie's prissy little sparkling ass!" Tony exclaimed, Clint taking his turn with Edward in the background, _literally_ sticking an arrow up his ass, a look of pure, childish, hateful delight on his face.

"Now you have a _literal _stick up your ass!" Clint crowed happily. The Cullens were transfixed, staring as one of their oldest members in the family was swiftly being turned into a train wreck.

"So, what's new with you guys?" Clint asked as Natasha took her turn, slowly making Edwards skin smoke, bubble, and in some places, melt off. Edward was crying out, whimpering and sobbing like a two year old.

"According to Rogers, Bells did _good_ out there." Tony said scathingly. Clint looked at Steve in shock.

"Good? That girl was pure kickass out there! Did you see the way she cut his dick right off? In one go too! You witness _that_, and you say she did _good_?" Clint asked, astounded.

"I was trying to compliment her!" Steve said defensively, throwing his arms in the air helplessly. Bella _would_ have gone to his defense, but her throat was hurting too much.

There came a defining roar, Hulk's turn had finally come.

"**SPARKLE PIXIE MAN HURT BELLA! HULK SMASH!" **And Hulk did smash, oh, did Hulk smash. By the time he was done, Edward was unrecognizable as the beautiful vampire Bella had fallen in love with. And she couldn't bring herself to feel guilty. She knew that he would eventually heal, so she did her best to commit this moment to memory, wishing that she had a camera. Tony stepped forward, addressing the Cullens.

"And this," He gestured to the scene of carnage before them, making sure to specifically point out Edward. "Is what happens when you mess with our family. If you value anything **_at all_** in your miserable little lives, you won't make the same mistake again, because we _will _come back, and we _will_ Avenge the wrongs committed. Capiche?" The remaining Cullens with the ability to move nodded frantically.

"Good." Tony said, turning back to the jet, which had miraculously survived the battle. "Let's go home guys, I'm craving some pizza." Steve turned to Bella, who he was supporting with one arm.

"Can you walk?" He asked. Bella nodded tiredly.

"I'm just tired." She protested in her croaky voice. Steve wouldn't hear it, and scooped her up in his arms, like she weighed no more than a small child. Which she might, seeing how skinny she was now.

"You can sleep on the trip back, just as soon as you get checked over, to make sure you're not seriously injured." Steve said, carrying her into the jet. The Hulk had already released Bruce back to them, and he was pulling a shirt on as they entered.

"Bruce." Steve said, placing Bella carefully on an examination table. "You up to looking over Bella here?" He asked, gesturing to Bella. Bruce smiled at her.

"Of course." He said, and speedily did a check up on her. He gave her the ok, and mercifully didn't say anything about her half starved form, saying that all she needed was rest, and plenty of it. But he gave her a look, telling her that this wasn't over. Steve carried her back to her chair then, ignoring her feeble protests.

"I think you're just taking advantage of the fact that I can't protest too much without it hurting." Bella informed him. He laughed quietly.

"Well if talking hurts, then maybe you should stop." He told her with a small smile. She stuck her tongue out in a playful, tired manner, and promptly fell asleep, and for once, the dreams didn't come.

When Bella woke, she was still on the jet. And her head was being held up by someone's shoulder. She peeked up from under her eyelashes to see that her head was on Steve's shoulder. She straitened up, blinking away the affects of her nap, damn, she had gotten a cramp in her neck from sleeping in such an awkward position.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Steve asked with a small smile. Bella blushed.

"Sorry, I didn't do that the entire time, did I?" she said sheepishly. Steve shrugged and stretched his arms.

"It wasn't a problem Bella, I didn't mind." He said with a smile. She smiled back up at him.

"Jeez Ellie, you slept like the dead." Tony commented. "An entire plane ride, and you barley even _breathed_." Bella, feeling much better after her nap, stuck her tongue out playfully at her godfather.

"We're home." Natasha announced.

"Excellent. How do you guys feel about pizza for dinner, I'm really craving pizza." Tony asked them.

"Tony, it's like 3 in the morning." Steve protested.

"That's why places are open 24 hours Steve!" Tony said happily. Bella shrugged.

"Hey, I'm not cooking, so pizza's fine by me." She said as they walked into the elevator.

"Sounds good to me." Natasha shrugged.

"Me too." Bruce agreed.

"As long as there are wings." Clint said.

"What sort of barbarian do you take me for Barton? Honestly, pizza without wings." Tony said in a mock offended tone, shaking his head. Bella raised an eyebrow at him.

"Wouldn't that be considered cannibalism Hawkeye?" She said with a strait face, causing them all to break out into laughter.

"Then I am proud to call myself a cannibal, beware, no bird is safe!" Clint exclaimed dramatically, causing them to burst into another round of laughter as they exited into the living room. They all collapsed on the various couches and chairs, Clint going up to his little nest in the alcove.

"Jarvis, order pizza, add another pizza and wings set than the usual number, and have it delivered." Tony said.

"Already done Sir." The AI replied. Pepper entered the room then, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Tony made to kiss his girlfriend, but she wrinkled her nose and pushed him away.

"Shower, now." She commanded, and turned to the rest of them. "All of you." There was whining and complaints, but Pepper eventually got her way. She went with Bella to her apartment, and offered to help put away her things while she showered. Bella accepted gratefully, and made her way to the en-suite bathroom.

After a quick shower, she slipped on a bathrobe and entered her bedroom, only to find Pepper waiting for her, her arms crossed.

"I figured out the cause of your confidence issues." Pepper informed her. Bella looked around nervously, her things were put away neatly, her clothes in the large closet, her books organized just how she liked on the shelves. Wow, Tony was right. Pepper really was the best PA in the universe. She was a psychic, that was the only possible explanation.

"Okayyyyy…" Bella said doubtfully. Pepper straitened slightly, and her hands went to her hips.

"No one taught you how to balance comfort and looking nice with your clothing, so you just went for comfort." She announced. Bella squirmed uncomfortably, she didn't like where this was going.

"Please don't say we're going shopping." Bella groaned. She had just been freed of Alice forcing her idea of 'nice clothes' down her throat.

"And that is a sign of someone forcing clothes down your throat; I'm guessing the little, overly energetic Vampire?" Natasha said, entering her room and plopping down on the bed. At Bella's nod the women smiled.

"Don't worry, we wont make you wear anything you don't want to." Natasha said.

"But, let's be fair, you haven't exactly been shown the fun side of shopping." Pepper pointed out. Bella begrudgingly nodded. "So, tomorrow we fix the problems created by Rene and… what's her name? Alyssa?" Bella laughed slightly.

"Alice, and it's worth a shot." Bella said.

"Lovely, I'll take off of work -I'm sure Tony can survive- and we can make a day of it." Pepper said with a smile.

Back in the living room, the men were all in some form of sleepwear, mostly sweatpants and different forms of t shirts. Tony's was a tank top, Bruce in an old, grey t shirt. Clint was in a black one, while Steve's was in a crisp, snowy white. Bella immediately felt self conscious, yes, she was wearing much the same as everyone else, sweatpants, hers being black, and a dark blue t shirt, and she had pulled up her slightly damp hair into a loose bun. Natasha and Pepper, who seemed to sense her uncertainty, each took one of her arms and led her to a sofa, where she was provided with food, which she gratefully ate. Bruce continually pressed her into having more food, and she accepted for a bit, ravenously hungry for the first time in months, but steadfastly refused after the eighth slice of pizza. She was however, coaxed into a bowl of popcorn, when they decided to put on a movie.

An astounding amount of popcorn was made, but Bella wasn't all too surprised. Steve had eaten three whole pizza pies, Thor eating twice that. Sleeping bags, blankets and pillows were passed out, Pepper curling up with Tony, Natasha going to sit by Clint on the floor. Thor sat right in front of the enormous TV screen, like a little child. Steve sat down on the floor, but looked uncomfortable, eying Thor nervously. Bella smiled at him and patted her sofa, gesturing for him to come and sit with her. He smiled gratefully and moved to sit with her quickly.

"Thanks." He whispered "Last time I was stuck on the floor with Thor, he decided that he wanted to learn more about 'The Midgardian tradition of cuddling.' I'm not completely sure, but I think Tony put him up to it." Bella snorted softly.

"That sounds like him, but aren't you afraid I might fall asleep on you again? I'd hate to get drool all over your nice white shirt." Bella whispered back, in a joking tone that she hoped hid her actual concern well. Steve smiled at her.

"I told you Bella, I don't mind if you fall asleep, I've had your godfather pass out on me on a regular basis, and I have to say, you're far more pleasant when you're sleeping than he is." Steve said with a teasing grin, Bella laughed softly. "And I don't remember you drooling on the plane, but I'll let you know if I spot any." Bella smiled up at the super soldier.

"That sounds fair." She said, as they both turned their attention to the movie.

Bella awoke to sunlight streaming in through the wall of windows, she felt safe, warm, and incredibly comfortable. She sat up and yawned. Her head had been against Steve's chest -who was still asleep-, his arm along the back of the couch, making up the comfortable little nest she had been curled up in. She rose from the couch, looking around. Thor, Clint, Tony, Natasha and Pepper were all still asleep. She smiled softly, enjoying the peaceful feeling that had crept up on her. She made her way to the kitchen, following the smell of coffee. Bruce was there, nursing his own mug. He smiled at her.

"The pot's over there." He said, gesturing to the counter. Bella smiled quickly in return and fixed herself a mug, using a plain, white one. She sat across from Bruce, a comfortable silence between them, but it didn't last as long as she would have liked. He cleared his throat, looking at her expectantly.

"Would you like to tell me why you look like an anorexic?" He asked quietly. Bella winced, but met his gaze, and nodded.

"Thank you for not telling them, by the way." She said sincerely. Bruce shrugged.

"I figured I wouldn't call you out in front of the others unless I needed to. It's not exactly a pleasant experience." He explained. Bella nodded, and began her lengthy explanation.

"When...Edward." She had to force his name out, and stubbornly ignored the flash of pain and betrayal the name brought on, as well as the one time happy memories. "When _he_ left, I sort of went to pieces. I loved him, more than anything. Or so I thought. Everything lost color when they left. I barley slept because of the nightmares, I barley ate because food had no appeal to me." Bella frowned at her own blindness and stupidity.

"My friends helped me, and I slowly started to heal. I still didn't sleep well, and had to force myself to eat every day, but I wasn't a zombie anymore. What I really mourned the most in those days was the loss of the other Cullens. My eyes had opened to how manipulative Edward had been. But Carlisle had been like my father, Esme more of a mother than Rene ever was, Emmett and Jasper like big brothers, and Alice and Rosalie my sisters." Bella gave Bruce a pained smile.

"I had always wanted a big family, with brothers and sisters, and they had welcomed me into theirs at once." Rosalie flashed into Bella's mind. "Well, almost everyone." She amended.

"I mourned them, they had been my family. And , of course, knowing my luck, the moment I had actually finished mourning them, had **finally** recovered, my _mother_," Bella spat out the word. "Decides she wants to come and visit. Just when things became good. I was over the Cullens, Charlie had finally gotten over Renee, and was with my friend's mother, and she goes and gets angry that he had found love and happiness. It's like she get's off on making other people's life's hell. I knew that she had been jealous or something, but I never thought that she would resort to murder." Bella explained. She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to ward away the memories.

"I was just coming home from visiting my friends, I had two of them, Leah and Seth with me, their mother was the one dating Charlie." Bella shuddered, and Bruce put a hand out and squeezed her own.

"You don't have to keep going if you don't want to." He said comfortingly. Bella shook her head.

"I need to get this out; it'll only hurt me if I don't." She said, and Bruce nodded.

"Rene had shot them both with Charlie's own gun. When we found them, Rene was long gone, already back on her way to Jacksonville, and no one ever knew that she was there except me, Charlie, Leah, Seth and their mother, Sue. I could smell Rene's perfume all over the room, but she had a couple of friends cover for her, giving her a rock solid alibi." Bella shook her head.

"She of course came back for the funeral, pretending to mourn, and wanting me to go back and live with her again" Bella shuddered at the thought.

"I was terrified, because of the look in her eyes. She had completely snapped, and would have killed me if I didn't do what she wanted, I was positive about that. So, I did the only thing I could think of, I called the only true family I had left. Tony, who, like the amazing person he is, took it from there." Bella said with a small smile.

"I planted a false trail for Rene, making her think I had left the country, and here I am." She said with a humorless laugh.

"You wanted to know why I didn't eat for the longest time? It was because I had everything I had ever wanted, a big family, with a real mother, big brothers that would actually take care of me for once, and a man that I loved deeply, and who I thought loved me back. And then I had that and more ripped from me in one go." She said bitterly, downing the rest of her coffee in one go.

"But you've got us now." A different voice pointed out. Clint dropped from a vent in the ceiling, Natasha behind him. The door opened, and the rest of the Avengers walked in.

"Morning Ellie." Tony said, kissing her on the cheek. Bella just sat there in shock, she thought she was confiding in just one man, the quiet and trustworthy Bruce, but apparently the rest had heard more than enough.

"How much did you hear?" Bella gasped. Natasha stepped forward, not looking the least bit guilty.

"I woke up the moment the door closed, and woke up the others. We've been here the whole time." The last bit was said rather sheepishly, and a _trace_ of guilt flashed across her face.

"The whole…" Bella stopped herself before she had a break down. They had heard everything.

"I never thought I would say this, but Clint's right you know." Tony said, and promptly hunched over, clutching his midriff in pain. "Ow, that was even worse than I thought it would be." That pulled a small, reluctant laugh out of her.

"But seriously, you may have only been here a day, but you're family, truly family. I mean, we kicked those pixie's asses for you." Tony pointed out. Bella nodded.

"Very true." She admitted with a small grin at the memory.

"We all care about you." Pepper said, walking up to her and putting an arm around her. Everyone very vocally expressed their agreement to Pepper's words.

"Hell yeah I care!" Clint exclaimed. "Any girl who can chop a guy's dick off in one go without even flinching has my eternal love and devotion. Why do you think I stick around Nat?" Everyone laughed at that.

"You're a genuinely good person Bella, right down to your core, and I respect that a great deal, I've come to care about you a lot." Natasha said quietly.

"I too have come to care for you greatly, sister Bella, and I would be honored to count myself as your brother." Thor said, sweeping her up into a massive hug. It was alike to Emmett's bear hugs, but was completely different; this one was full of warmth, almost like Jake's but with something else, something she couldn't put her finger on.

"Thank you, Brother Thor." She whispered. Thor beamed happily as he gently set her down.

"You're more like Tony than I think either of you realize, Bella. Both of you have had very bad things happen to you. Tony came out stronger because of it, and I'm sure you will too. You're like the little sister we all craved on the team. Natasha's the only girl, but well, she's _Natasha_. We all care about you already Bella, myself included." Bruce said in his quiet, comforting voice. He really _was_ like Angela. Bella thought. Steve cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"I think you're one of a kind Bella." He began. "It's obvious to anyone who looks how large your heart is, and that in of itself is far too rare, even in my day. But I doubt anyone could find someone with your heart, courage, strength and intelligence, all rolled up into one. Everything you do screams these things, from your smile, to the way you talk and walk. It would be a privilege to simply be your friend, let alone be considered family." Bella smiled at them all, tears starting to gather in her eyes and fall.

"You _bastards_!" Bella exclaimed shakily. "Look at what you did, you made me cry." Laughter filled the room then, and Tony came to her rescue, walking over and putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Look." He said, with a dead serious face. "I'm not good with the mushy stuff, as you know very well, but if you it has to be done, then I have no problem getting drunk off my ass and spewing all the mushy love goop that always seems to come up whenever I'm pissed out of my mind." Bella laughed then, her tears clearing up, hiccoughing slightly.

"Oh…**hic**... what a **hic**… _sacrifice_." She said sarcastically. Everyone laughed again, and grouped in around her, all hugging her tightly. Bella relaxed, at peace, reveling in the feeling that surrounded her, the feeling of being _home_ at last.


	4. Her Own Person

"Come on," Pepper said, with her arm still around Bella. "Let's get you dressed; we have a girl's day to start." Bella smiled weakly at the two redheads that were leading her back to her room, Tony following them. Pepper immediately bee-lined for her closet, looking through her clothes for something acceptable to wear, not seen in the incredibly large closet, -her clothes didn't even take up a sixteenth of the space in there! Natasha sat Bella at her vanity, and started to run her fingers through Bella's hair. Tony plopped onto a chair and looked at Bella.

"Did you really mean it?" Tony asked her seriously, almost afraid. Bella looked at him curiously.

"Mean what?" She asked. Tony gave her a look as if to say _"Seriously? You don't know?"_

"About wanting to be a Stark. Do you really want that? Or was that just to shut Vampire Barbie up?" He clarified. Bella gave him an astonished look.

"Of course I want to be a Stark! I've always wanted it, ever since I was a little girl and Charlie told me that he wanted me to have the name Stark when I was born!" Bella exclaimed. Tony looked staggered.

"Charlie never told me that." He whispered. Bella got up from the vanity and hugged her godfather.

"You've always been family; I want to be able to show the world that. I've always been a Stark, whether I had the name or not. I just want it to be official." Bella whispered. Tony's arms wrapped around her, giving her the tender squeeze that she knew was reserved only for her.

"You do know what this would mean, right?" He whispered back at her, and Bella nodded seriously.

"I do, and I'll deal with it. This is what I want Tony." She said seriously, looking him in the eye. Tony grinned brightly.

"Alright then, I guess I have a phone call to make, the paper's will probably be dropped off before lunch." Tony said, rising and walking to the elevator.

"We'll stop back after lunch to have Bella sign it." Pepper promised, poking her head out of the closet. Bella sat back down at the vanity, Natasha going back to running her fingers gently through it.

"What do you think of having your hair cut?" Natasha queried, pulling out a brush and beginning to brush her hair, with such incredible gentleness that Bella wanted to cry again. Bella bit her lip, she had always kept her hair long, all the way to her waist, at first it was at Rene's insistence, and later because Edward liked it longer. It would be strange to have her hair shorter, but she had a feeling it would be a nice kind of strange.

"I like that idea." She quietly replied. Natasha smiled kindly at her, with eyes knowing, like she had seen her thought process.

"A change will do you good." She agreed. "Jarvis, please show different hairstyles so we can get an idea of what we want to do." Pictures of different hairstyles started to show up on the mirror, Pepper brought Bella's clothes over, and helped Bella and Natasha pick out a hairstyle. It took them a while, but a hairstyle was chosen, and Bella's clothes were put on. It was a warm day, so she was wearing a short sleeved red button down blouse and blue jeans, with simple black flats for shoes. Natasha pulled Bella's hair into a ponytail, and they were off.

* * *

It wasn't as weird as Bella thought it would be, having a chauffeur. He was silent, focusing on the road. He stopped briefly at a lovely, quaint little coffee shop, where they got out for breakfast.

"Nat and I come here for breakfast all the time." Pepper said to Bella. "Their muffins are the best in the city." They entered and walked up to the counter, Bella looking at the menu carefully. She ordered an iced tea, a bagel, a sugar cookie and a blueberry muffin. Natasha got a small smoothie and a banana nut muffin, and Pepper espresso and cinnamon sugar muffin, one of the café's specials. They sat down at a small table in the corner, chatting and laughing quietly.

"I think this is the highest calorie breakfast I've had in years." Bella laughed softly as she polished off her bagel.

"Good, you would benefit from a little extra weight." Pepper said seriously, and Natasha – who was eating her muffin with dainty relish, if that's even possible – nodded her agreement.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Bella admitted. "I am a bit like a skeleton, huh?" she took a bite of the muffin then, and she was sure the shock was clear on her face. Bella had always had a small weakness for blueberry muffins, but this was by far, the most delicious blueberry muffin that she had ever tasted.

"Holy shit." Bella said. The redheads nodded, with no traces of amusement at her reaction on their faces.

"Yeah, that was our reaction when we first tried them." Natasha said seriously.

"Who made that muffin? An angel?" Bella demanded. Pepper smiled.

"A little old lady and her granddaughters." She replied.

"Close enough." Bella muttered. That pulled a laugh from the two other women, and Bella joined in quickly. They went back to the car, and proceeded to go to the first shop. Bella usually flinched at the sight of any designer clothing, but she somehow couldn't bring herself to.

The saleswoman looked like her week had just been made when she found out that Bella was getting some kind of extreme makeover. She was brought into a private dressing room with Natasha at once, while Pepper and the saleswoman brought clothes to try on. Bella half expected immodest, uncomfortable things that she would hate, but was surprised. Most of the clothes were practical and comfortable, yet beautiful and flattering at the same time. Natasha eyed each outfit like she was a judge on Project Runway, giving her approval or disapproval for each outfit.

Eventually Pepper came in, and they started to sift through the fifty something outfits that Bella and Natasha had narrowed down to. And through that second look, they narrowed _that_ number down to about twenty outfits. She had about five new pairs of shoes as well, and… well, she supposed that she really _could_ use new underwear, and it was certainly more comfortable than what she had now.

* * *

They exited the shop, laden with bags. Bella wasn't surprised when she was brought to another store, she was going to be a Stark, and like she said, she knew what that would mean; she would be the focus of the press for quite a while. She didn't like the idea of being in the spotlight, she had told Steve that much, but she would deal with it, and weather any storm that was thrown at her, because that was what she did. Life unloaded Hell onto her, but she came out stronger because of it.

She was bustled into another changing room, and given what felt like half the clothes in the shop. But this time, instead of undergarments as an addition, it was nightwear. Piles of lacey, silky nightgowns and pajamas were given for her to try on.

_"How could Pepper possibly know what would fit me perfectly?" _Bella thought to herself as she tried on the clothes given to her. The same process was gone through again, Natasha critiquing the outfits, and Pepper helping with the ultimate narrowing down of things. By the end of the trip to this shop, she had another ten outfits, and about six different articles of sleepwear to add to the pile of bags in the back of the car. Pepper's phone beeped, she quickly took it out and checked it.

"That was Tony; he said the papers were there. Mostly they're for show, since Tony has a lot of people who owe him favors, but you're officially a Stark now." Pepper told her. "How about we go get some lunch now, and then head back to Stark Tower to sign the papers?" Bella nodded.

"Sounds good, where are we headed?" She asked.

"Panera Bread." Natasha told her. Bella perked up.

"I've always wanted to try Panera, but there aren't any close enough to Forks." She said excitedly.

"Perfect, you'll love it." Pepper said with a smile. They arrived then, and the three women of Stark Tower exited the car, and chatted, laughing as they entered Panera Bread.

Pepper had been right, Bella loved the food here. It was simply delicious. They continued to talk as they ate.

"So, Bella, Tony said that you technically graduated high school at fifteen, why did you keep attending?" Natasha asked curiously. Bella shrugged.

"To keep form, find friends, etc." Bella said. "I kept up with my studies though, took some online collage courses and stuff, and I did a lot of reading."

"What did you study?" Pepper asked.

"Physics, mostly, though I did read a lot on advanced mechanics, so I could at least _try_ to keep up with Tony when he talks about that stuff." Bella answered modestly.

"That's… amazing." Pepper replied honestly. Bella shrugged again.

"I had a lot of time on my hands." She said, sipping her Coke. They drove back to Stark Towers, and met Tony in an office. There were two people with him, a man in a crisp black suit; and a smiling, energetic looking woman in an artistic purple shirt and blue jeans.

"Ellie, this is Mr. Hawthorne, he's the one taking care of your name change." Tony said with a smile. Mr. Hawthorne stepped forward, handing her a clipboard and pen.

"All you have to do is sign the dotted line, Ms. Swan, and write clearly what you wish you're name to change to, everything else has been taken care of." He said. Bella took the clipboard and signed at once. In the place she was to write her new name, _**Isabella Maria Stark**_ was carefully placed. Bella handed the man the clipboard. He glanced over it quickly.

"Everything seems to be in order, good day, Ms. Stark." He said, walking out of the room.

Tony came over and hugged her, along with Pepper and Natasha.

"How does it feel Ellie? Being a Stark?" Tony asked with a grin. Bella grinned back happily.

"It feels good, I feel free." She said happily. And she did, her heart leapt when Hawthorne had called her Ms. Stark, and she felt free of the yoke that seemed to have been always around her neck. The woman in the purple shirt cleared her throat and stepped forward, extending her hand.

"Hello Ms. Stark, I'm McKenzie, I'll be fixing your room up for you." She said. Bella shook her hand with a smile.

"It's good to meet you McKenzie." She said politely. McKenzie nodded, pleased about something.

"Now, let's get down to business. Do you have an idea as to how you would like your room to look?" She asked. At Bella's shake of the head, McKenzie nodded to herself.

"Would you like full control over your room's decorating process?" She asked. Bella shook her head again.

"No, that's fine." She said. McKenzie nodded again.

"Well then, I would just like to ask you some questions, to get a good grasp of your tastes." McKenzie said, and started to show her pictures of things, colors, and furniture, and ask Bella to rate them. After about ten minutes of this, and about a million nods, McKenzie was done.

"Very good, I must say, you have excellent taste, Ms. Stark. Your room will be ready by this evening." She said. Bella was impressed at how quickly she said her room would be done, but figured Tony paid her to work quickly or something.

"Thank you McKenzie." Tony said, dismissing her. The women went back to the car then, arm in arm. They drove to the next store, which Pepper said was the last stop for clothes, and then it would be on to the accessories. As it turned out, it was a Dressmaker's shop that they ended up at.

The seamstress, Veronica Dawes, was delighted, just like the saleswomen had been. She quickly set to work taking Bella's measurements, and on ideas for the rest of her wardrobe, including formal wear. She cringed slightly when that came up, but Veronica was good at what she did. She kept her designs simple, with little things that made her work look elegant.

Bella, Natasha and Pepper made their way to a shoe store then, adding several pairs of shoes to the ever growing pile of bags in the back of the car. At another store, she was supplied with makeup, perfume, and any other little accessory she might need. Bella decided to go minimal on the jewelry; she wasn't really the type to go around, laden with sparkly things. A couple of necklaces and earrings, and she was good to go in that department. And then came the last stop of the day, the Salon. There was absolutely no wait for her, though there was a large amount of people, waiting for their turn.

"I made an appointment this morning." Pepper whispered in her ear, explaining. Bella nodded, unknowing of the fact that the name 'Stark' got you practically the same treatment as the President almost anywhere. She was brought over to a station, where the owner of the Salon, Grace Linley, did Bella's hair herself. It was a bittersweet moment, seeing her long tresses being cut off. But she was right this morning, having her hair short was weird, but a good kind of weird. Grace, who had just finished cutting her hair, attacked it with the straitening iron and some kind of hair product.

The three women went out to dinner, at some small, obscure Italian restaurant that had amazing pasta. When they got home, it was late evening, and everyone seemed to be going about their own business. Jarvis had informed them that Tony took the guys out for some 'bonding time', and had said to not wait up for them. Bella's room had been finished, so they went to view he changes made.

* * *

It was beautiful. Dark, coffee colored hardwood floors, cream colored rugs here and there, with dark blue patterns on them. The walls were midnight blue, and the ceiling looked like the night sky. The furniture was modern looking, but also very comfortable. Tony had obviously put his touch in the room as well, everything was automated, her bookshelf, the lights, the TV, even her closet. Pepper walked back into the closet, and came out carrying all of Bella's old clothes, a serious look on her face.

"Alright, what do you want to keep out of all this?" She asked Bella, who shook her head.

"Get rid of it all, I'm done with them." Bella said. Pepper smiled.

"With pleasure." She said, walking over to the garbage slot and shoving all of her old clothes down it.

"Alright then, strip." Natasha commanded, and sent the last of her old clothes down the chute. She slipped on some lounge clothes, a simple light pink t shirt and black yoga pants, and the women set to work putting Bella's new things away. As they worked, they kept talking.

"So, what're you planning to do with your time?" Natasha asked.

"Study mostly, Tony and Bruce are going to help me with Science, training me so I can help them in the workshop sometimes." Bella replied. "I'm also going to try and get into better shape, you pointed it out yourself when we first met, I'm kinda clumsy."

"I can help you with that." Natasha offered. Bella looked up at her.

"Really? I'd love that, thanks." She said thankfully. Natasha nodded.

"It's not a problem Bella." She said honestly. "Most of the time I get kinda bored, I don't have much to do around here, I don't exactly have a lot of hobbies. Well, _domestic_ hobbies. I'm not really interested in lab-work, like Bruce and Tony, I don't draw like Steve, or play video games like Thor and Clint, I've kinda been at a loss for something to do, and helping you out seems like a good way to fill my time." Bella smiled at Natasha.

"Either way, thank you." She said, going over to Natasha and hugging her. After a brief moment's hesitation, Natasha hugged Bella back. As they parted, Pepper looked at Bella.

"You look better already." She observed. Bella glanced into the long mirror on the wall and started. She hadn't really gotten a good look at herself since this morning. She did look better, healthier. There was a rosy tint to her milky skin, one that she had never seen before, her mouth naturally turned up in the corners, instead of down, one side pulling higher than the other. There was an energetic sparkle in her eyes, one she had only seen when she stayed with Tony, who easily brought out her mischievous side. Her hair stopped just at her shoulders, and was shinier than she had ever believed it could be. It was full of choppy layers, a bang sweeping across her face, ending by her ear. The red in her hair seemed more prominent than before, but she didn't recall Grace doing anything to it.

She wasn't Bella Swan anymore; the girl who had her heart broken, the girl who had lived under the care of a psychotic mother. She was gone, faded into oblivion. This was someone new. Isabella Maria Stark, goddaughter of the one and only Tony Stark, the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, and she would be her own person from here on out.


	5. Romanov Boot Camp

Bella woke the next morning to Natasha, dressed in a black shirt and jogging pants. Bella glanced at the clock and groaned.

"Why did you wake me up at 4:00 in the morning?" She asked sleepily. Natasha smiled at her.

"Your training starts now, we're going on a run." She said, tossing her some clothes. Bella rolled out of her comfortable bed and looked at the clothes she was given, a dark, forest green t shirt and black Capri pants that she quickly slipped in to, also putting on a pair of sneakers on while she was at it.

"Come on, breakfast." Natasha commanded, bringing Bella up to the kitchen, where she proceeded to tell Bella exactly what to make for herself. She knew that Natasha was going to be harsh; in fact Nat had warned her that she was going to be a drill sergeant of a personal trainer. She didn't mind, in fact it sort of motivated her. Bella proceeded to eat three scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast, an apple, and a small glass of orange juice. It was a heartier breakfast than Bella had had in a long time.

The two women rode the elevator in companionable silence, all the way down to the bottom. Quickly after starting to run, Bella understood why jogging in the heart of Manhattan could be considered intense training. The city was just coming to life, hot dog venders rolling out, traffic flow just starting to increase. It was like a battleground, trying to avoid being trampled by everyone and everything around her. Oh, how she had missed the sounds of the city, of life all around her, even at night. They ran about an hour out, before looping around and heading back.

It was 6:30 when they returned to the tower, and workers were starting to arrive. The sun had risen, and was shining brightly. Natasha brought Bella to the top floor of the building, with a nice view of the city below.

"Why did you bring me up here?" Bella asked curiously. Natasha looked at her calmly.

"I'm going to teach you how to fight." She said evenly, and quickly lunged toward her. Bella tried to get out of the way, but Natasha was too fast. Before she knew it, she was face down, pinned to the ground, unable to get up.

"Get up." Natasha commanded, still pinning her to the ground.

"I can't." Bella protested.

"Yes you can, my hand is on your right shoulder, use that as leverage." Natasha said, still speaking in a perfectly calm voice.

"_What?"_ Bella thought to herself, but tried to get free. She grabbed Natasha's hand and twisted, pressing against it and swinging away from her. She was free for a brief moment before she was abruptly pinned against the side of the building.

"Free yourself." Came the calm command. This time, while she was struggling, she took assessment of where Natasha's hands were, one on her back, where she could easily hold a gun, and her other arm had her pinned against the wall by her neck. She grabbed that arm and twisted around, grabbing Nat's other arm in the process and attempting to pin her. Natasha easily avoided that, using the momentum against Bella and pinning her again, this time on her back. Bella knew the drill this time, but instead of going for the arm pinning her, she cupped Natasha's hand with one hand, and her waist with the other, and flipped them, successfully pinning her to the ground.

"You're doing really well." Natasha complimented, and quickly freed herself from Bella's trap, pinning her to the ground again. "But it's not good enough. Free yourself, and _stay_ free this time."

* * *

They continued like that for hours, Natasha maintaining her cool composure easily. Bella's back hit the hard floor _again_, and she groaned in pain.

"Do better." Natasha said seriously. "You would have been dead a hundred times over if this was a real fight."

"I'm trying!" Bella exclaimed, attempting to get free from Natasha's grip.

"You're failing." Natasha corrected. "Now start succeeding."

Bella gripped Nat's arm and flipped her away, rolling upwards and readying herself for Natasha's next attack. Natasha started to circle to the right, and Bella kept her eyes locked on her. Bella noticed her muscles tensing ever so slightly, and leapt out of the way just in time. There was a shift in the atmosphere then, Natasha dropping the slightest bit of her composure. Natasha started circling again, Bella now watching the language of her body, instead of just watching for an attack. Natasha did that slight tensing again, and had more weight on her left foot. She made to go that way, but feinted and went right, taking Bella by surprise. She slammed into the floor for the billionth time. Natasha immediately got up this time, and offered Bella her hand.

"I think that's enough for now." Natasha said, helping Bella up. "You were really good today, much better than anyone else I've ever tried to train.

"I had my ass handed to me on a silver platter." Bella protested, rubbing her sore shoulder.

"You showed adaptability, and you learned to watch the signs the body can provide when it comes to fighting. Your mistake is that you let your guard down, the body can be manipulated to mislead, remember that." Natasha said as they walked back to the elevator.

"Go ahead and take a shower, I'll come down in a bit to help you with your hair if you like." Natasha offered. Bella smiled at her.

"I would, I like it when you do my hair." Bella said.

"Good, because I like doing your hair." Natasha said with a smile. Bella smiled back at her and walked out of the elevator and into her apartment. She made her way to her bathroom and stripped off her sweat soaked clothes, throwing them into the laundry chute. The hot shower did wonders for her soreness. Pepper was waiting in her bedroom, by the closet.

"What do you want to wear today?" she asked. Together they looked at her new clothes, and chose that day's outfit. A rose colored blouse hugged her small frame, hiding the protruding ribs, dark blue jeans, and black ballerina flats were chosen, and a long gold necklace with a small owl with tiny diamond eyes as a pendent. Natasha entered, wearing a light green blouse with a brown leather jacket. Bella sat at her new vanity and Natasha quickly started doing her hair, running her fingers through it and twisting it into different hairstyles.

"I think we should keep it down today." Pepper advised. "They guys haven't seen her haircut yet." Natasha nodded and started working her fingers through Bella's hair again, using some product to smooth it out. Her hair was soon finished; Natasha's hands had worked magic on it, making it smooth and shiny again.

They all walked arm in arm up to the kitchen, where the rest of the team was eating lunch. They all looked up when they entered, and all eyes zeroed in on Bella.

"Damn Bells, your lookin fine." Clint whistled.

"You look most beautiful Sister Bella." Thor boomed, kissing her hand.

"Thank you Brother Thor." Bella said with a small smile.

"That's a really nice haircut Bella." Bruce complimented with a smile, glancing over at Steve, Bella noticed that Tony and Thor were looking at him too. He had turned slightly pink, and cleared his throat.

"You look beautiful Bella." He said genuinely, with a smile that had Bella smiling in an instant, and continue to smile for the rest of the day.

The next day Bella was woken again by Natasha, who instead of jogging around the city, brought her to one of the ten floors of Stark tower devoted to training. There was a gigantic race track in it, and Natasha had her run around it, again and again.

_Thwack!_ Bella hit the ground, hard. She rubbed her left shoulder and glared at the offensive tennis ball.

"What was that for?" She demanded of Natasha, who was observing from a small bench.

"It was for training, avoid them." Natasha said in her cool voice. After an hour of attempting to avoid the balls hurled at her from several devices that were hidden in the walls, Natasha brought her to another floor, where she had her lifting weights for another hour. She was brought back to the roof then, and Bella wanted to groan. She had bruises all over her body from yesterday.

This time though, they weren't alone. The rest of the Avengers had gathered, after some team members _(cough cough, Clint)_ complained about not being there to witness the training session.

"Don't you go breaking my goddaughter Romanov." Tony warned. Natasha rolled her eyes and leapt for Bella, who was quickly pinned to the ground. Bella growled slightly and freed herself, rolling away and jumping to her feet. They started circling one another.

"No, no." Natasha said and gained advantage over Bella again. "Your form's wrong, and your stance is weak, keep your feet firm, and your arms ready, like this." Natasha demonstrated, and Bella mimicked her. "Arms a little lower... Good." They started circling again.

"Focus on evasion, wear you opponent out before striking, and always go in quick, you wouldn't have the strength for a prolonged attack, you would be overwhelmed." Natasha said, still circling. Bella nodded, eyes fixed on Natasha, waiting for her to strike.

"You got this Ellie!" Tony called. Natasha went to strike, but Bella dodged just in time.

"Nice one Bells!" Clint yelled excitedly.

"Good, but you could have used that to your advantage, to get in an offensive strike, like this." Natasha said.

They reversed roles, and went through it in exaggerated slowness, but instead of letting Bella stumble, Natasha brought her leg around, sweeping Bella off of her feet. Bella nodded determinately and got back on her feet.

* * *

They continued for another few hours, Bella learning fast, and avoiding Natasha for longer periods each time. Bella noticed that she hadn't fallen once out of clumsiness. How was that possible? Usually she couldn't walk a straight line without toppling over.

Natasha wasn't as collected as the day before, she had small beads of sweat on her forehead, and a look of concentration on her face. But she was fresh as a daisy compared to Bella, who decided that she _needed_ to somehow end this for the day.

She went on the offensive, quickly darting forward. Natasha was surprised, as she had never gone on the offensive before, she was always on defense. She went for Nat's legs, sweeping them out from under her, grabbing her arms with one hand, and putting pressure on her legs with her knees, leaving no way to get free but brute strength. But if it was a real fight, it would be too late; her free hand could have easily been holding a weapon. Bella _actually won_.

Of course, Natasha easily turned the tables, wrestling her way free quickly and pinning her again, but she had tasted victory for a brief second. She immediately rose from Bella, like yesterday and helped her up. The roof was silent. The Avengers had been calling out encouragements from time to time, or pointers that might help. But they were quiet now, staring at Bella in shock.

Suddenly noise erupted from the men, clapping and cheering. Everyone rushed forward hugging her, their voices laced with pride.

"You did it Ellie! You had her! I mean, yeah, she can rip you to pieces with her pinky, but just for a second there Ellie, you actually took her by surprise!" Tony said, hugging her tightly.

"Well fought, Sister Bella! I have never seen a Midgardian warrior progress so swiftly." Thor said in his loud voice, sweeping her up in a hug.

"Wow Bells, remind me to go for you for help next time I piss Nat off." Clint said, clapping her on the back.

"You did an excellent job Bella, I'm proud of you." Bruce said with a smile. And yes, pride was evident in his eyes. Steve was looking at her with wide eyes.

"_No one_ has ever lasted that long against Natasha before, let alone successfully managed to pin her. That was _amazing_ Bella." Steve said in awe. A happy, floaty feeling rose from the pit of her stomach, into her chest. She felt herself warm all over, and knew she was blushing.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure she was going easy on me." Bella said modestly, looking at her feet. There was a small hand placed on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Nat.

"I don't go easy on _anyone_ Bella." She corrected. "You genuinely took me by surprise there, but be careful, I'm not gonna make the mistake of underestimating you again. You did a fantastic job today, but you still have a ways to go." Bella nodded seriously, understanding.

"Excuse me Princess," Jarvis cut in. "But Miss Potts requests that you go and clean yourself at once, and that Sir meets the two of you in your room in an hour, to speak of 'important things.'"

"Alright Jarvis." Bella said with a small smile. "Tell Pepper that I'm on my way." She walked over to the elevator with the others, and chatted happily with Steve on the way down to her room.

"So, Nat said that you draw?" Bella asked curiously. Steve turned a light pink.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Steve said, looking embarrassedly at his shoes. Bella smiled and tilted her head to look him in the eye.

"Hey, don't you go getting embarrassed and pulling one of those tricks on me. They can't fool me, I know every single one in the book, and invented some extras myself." Bella said in a light tone. Steve chuckled softly, bringing a smile to her face.

"You get embarrassed easy too huh?" Steve asked. Bella shrugged.

"Pepper calls it a 'confidence issue', but yeah, I do." She said.

"That sounds like Pepper." Steve nodded and said with a small smile that made his face look even more attractive than he already was. Bella smiled back happily.

"So, I've been thinking about getting you up to date with literature." Bella said. Steve turned fully to her.

"You don't have to, you know, I mean, I know you're busy now, with your training with Natasha and all, I…" he began, but Bella cut him off with a small, bell like laugh and a smile. Steve looked at her, eyes darting down to her crooked smile momentarily and turned pink again.

"Steve, it's fine, I would love to help you, I was just wondering what you've read already, so I know where to start." Bella told him softly. Steve turned a slightly deeper pink, and made to look at his shoes again before remembering what she said.

"Oh, right." He said, embarrassed. "Well, I kinda haven't really read well...anything. I've been kinda overwhelmed by it all, you know?" Bella gave a soft, understanding smile.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Well, that makes my life easier. Hmmm, what about Harry Potter? It's one of my favorites, and it's really popular." Bella suggested. Steve perked up.

"That sounds good to me; didn't they make movies out of those books?" He questioned. Bella nodded.

"Yeah, we can watch them sometime if you want." She offered. Steve practically glowed.

"I'd love that! Thanks." Steve said enthusiastically. "I've tried watching stuff, like TV shows and movies, but it's kinda depressing, doing it alone."

"I know what you mean." Bella said understandingly. "Listen, anytime you wanna watch something, just come and visit me. My evenings are free, so we can watch whatever you want then." Steve glanced at her, shocked.

"Really? You don't mind?" He asked excitedly, but traces of concern in his warm, sky blue eyes. Bella smiled at him brightly, exited herself at spending time with him. Her evenings had been lonely, these past couple of days. When she didn't pass out from exhaustion of course.

"Really, I think it'd be fun." She told him. They were at her floor then, and as she walked out she turned back for a second.

"Remember, come up any time." She told Steve who nodded happily.

She all but ran to her shower once the elevator door slid shut, and sighed in relief once the hot water hit her aching back.

Pepper was once again waiting by her closet, and together they decided on an outfit. Today it was a sky blue short sleeved blouse, with the neckline gathered up to create a ruffled affect, she slipped on jeans and black converse to go with it, and put on some simple silver hoop earrings, and put on some basic makeup with Pepper's help. Brown eyeshadow, and a light pink lip gloss completed her look. Her hair was still looking fine, but Natasha came in and made fine look fantastic in a matter of minutes. They talked happily for a little while, before Tony came down, so the 'important meeting' could begin.


	6. Star Trek and Old Pain

"So Pep, what's this all about?" Tony asked as he plopped down on a chair. Pepper had a serious look on her face.

"We need to discuss how we're going to handle the press when it comes to Bella." She said firmly.

"I know they're going to be on my back for a while." Bella said quickly. "I'll deal with it." Pepper shook her head.

"That's not what I meant, I mean, how are we going to let the press know that there's an addition to the Stark family." She clarified. Tony waved a hand absently.

"I'll just make an official announcement that my goddaughter has come to live with me at the next press conference. Easy." Pepper nodded, looking at her phone.

"The next conference is next Monday, that'll leave us some time to teach Bella how to deal with the press." She announced in an approving tone. Bella wanted to groan, more training. Tony waved his hand again in a dismissive gesture.

"Please, all she has to learn is the phrase 'No comment' and she's good to go." Pepper glared at Tony.

"There's a lot more to it than that Tony, at least if she wants a better reputation than you have." She said hotly. Tony grinned at his girlfriend and winked.

"Please, America's gonna love Ellie, no matter what she says, they won't be able to help it." Tony said with a small snort, and winked at Bella, who giggled.

* * *

Bella was sitting, curled up on her sofa when she heard the sound of the elevator stopping. It opened to reveal Steve, smiling at her shyly.

"I was wondering, if you were free, if you might want to watch something with me?" he asked hopefully. Bella jumped to her feet, a smile immediately blossoming on her face.

"Of course! What do you have in mind?" She asked happily, he smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Er, well, I don't really know much about this either, any suggestions?" He asked, sitting down on the couch next to her. Bella tilted her head to the side, in her usual thinking position.

"Well, why don't we look on Netfix? There's bound to be something that will catch our eye." She suggested. Steve nodded.

"Ok." He agreed easily.

"Jarvis, load up Netflix please." Bella asked politely. Her flatscreen on the wall flickered to life, and the familiar red load up screen immediately popping up. Bella and Steve quickly scanned through the suggestions, nothing immediately catching either of the two's eye.

"How about Star Trek?" she said eventually, after about 5 minutes of scanning things in silence. Steve scrunched his eyes together, in an adorable, concentrated look.

"Which one's that?" he asked, looking at the screen.

"This one." She clicked on it, and Steve read the description.

"Sounds interesting." He said when he was done. Bella smiled and played the first episode.

"That was so cool. The special effects were so realistic!" Steve said enthusiastically, after the first episode had finished. That had pulled a laugh from her. That show had been made only a couple of decades after his time, it had been a good show, but the special effects had been terrible by modern standards.

"I can't wait until you see modern special effects." She said, shaking her head slightly.

"It gets better?" Steve asked, astonished. Bella laughed again.

"Much better, do you want to watch more? Or switch to something else?" She asked with a smile. Steve shrugged.

"Whatever you like, It's your room." He said. Bella looked at him, unable to contain the amusement. She laughed again – this was becoming a common occurrence now, she hadn't laughed that much since she was a child.

"Come on, just admit that you want to watch more Steve, it's fine." She laughed. Steve turned pink again – was this what it was like for everybody else, watching her blush all the time? If so, she now understood their insistence at making her blush all the time.

"I _do_ want to more." He admitted, with a small smile. Bella smiled back at him.

"I'm glad, because I want to watch more too." She said. Steve started to laugh, genuinely laugh, a deep, happy, content noise that put Bella at ease. - And she hadn't even known she was tense!

"Well, that's convenient." Steve said, still chuckling, Bella unable to help joining him, his laughter was so infectious.

"Yeah, I suppose that is a little bit convenient." Bella said, curling up on herself on the couch.

"Only a little bit?" Steve asked, trying to keep a serious, but failing miserably. They couldn't stop themselves, the collapsed into a fit of laughter, the kind of crazy, uncontrollable laughter that comes from not having laughed in a long time. Eventually they found themselves again, their sides pressed together for support. They both sighed, tired from the intense laugh-attack. Bella let her head fall onto Steve's shoulder, both of them breathing heavily.

"It's been a while since I've laughed like that." Bella breathed, shaking her head on Steve's shoulder slightly. She felt Steve nod.

"I know what you mean, I almost thought that I had forgotten how to laugh." He said softly. Bella looked up at him from her comfortable position, tilting her head to get a better view of him. There was a pained look in his eyes. Bella knew that look, all too well.

"It's not bad to enjoy life without them." She said softly. Steve started slightly.

"How did you know that?" He asked, astounded. Bella smiled sadly at him.

"The look in your eyes, a saw it every day, whenever I looked in a mirror for months." She explained in a soft, gentle voice, "Whoever they were, it's not bad to enjoy yourself without them, trust me." Steve looked down at her, a small smile on his face, pain in his eyes.

I can't forget them Bella, I just can't." He said. Bella shook her head.

"I'm not saying forget them, they hold a place in your heart, and always will. But let the memories stay, but the pain pass by, all it will do is taint your good memories. I learned that the hard way." Bella told him. Steve had a pained, faraway look in his eyes, and Bella waited for him to finish in silence. Eventually he nodded.

"You're right." He said softly. Bella smiled, and wrapped an arm around him, giving him a small hug. After a moment, she felt Steve shift, and both of his arms wrap around her.

"You want to be alone?" She asked quietly into his shoulder, she felt him shake his head.

"No, not really, I've had more than enough alone time. C…Can we just watch another episode? If you still want to of course." He said quickly, stuttering slightly. Bella pulled away slightly, giving him a warm smile.

"Jarvis? Play episode 2 please." She said, lacing her fingers through Steve's in a comforting gesture, and settling back down next to him.

* * *

"Awww." Clint cooed from the vent, earning him a whack upside the head from Natasha.

"Shut it Barton." She hissed.

"But look at how utterly adorable they are!" Clint protested quietly, gesturing beneath them, to the pretty sight of Bella and Steve, curled up close on the couch, fingers entwined. Natasha looked back down at the scene, and visibly softened.

"Aha! The ice sculpture has a heart!" Clint said triumphantly. Nat hit him again, but he didn't seem to care. "You know, they'd be good for each other." He said musingly. Natasha looked up sharply, glaring at him.

"You are not, under _any_ circumstances, to play matchmaker with those two. It was bad enough that time you went as Cupid to the Halloween party." Natasha warned in a deadly voice. Clint raised his hand defensively.

"Hey, hey, I'll but out. But you've gotta admit, they'd be good together." He said. Natasha ignored him, and started crawling away. He joined her, and they continued to crawl along in silence.

And if when they reached Steve's floor, witnessing him going to bed, Natasha noticed the big, goofy smile on his face, well, she certainly didn't tell Clint.

Tony and Bruce were working in the lab, Pepper sitting on a nearby couch, looking intently at her phone, likely at something work related.

"Well, guess what Nat and I just saw!" Clint said, dropping form the vent in the ceiling. The trio calmly looked up, used to Clint's method of transportation.

"Would you just drop it already Barton?" Natasha snapped as she followed after him, dropping gracefully into the room.

"Drop what?" Tony asked curiously, looking up from his project.

"Nothing, Clint's just an idiot." Natasha said quickly.

"While that is very true, it looks like he's about to burst, out with it Barton." Tony said, walking over to the couch and sitting next to his girlfriend, an arm curling around her.

"Nat and I saw our fearless leader, the one and only Captain America, looking quite cozy with one Isabella Stark, cuddling up on her couch and watching Star Trek together." He said with a grin.

"Which one?" Bruce asked curiously.

"What do you mean Bruce?" Tony asked his lab partner.

"There are a couple of Star Treks, The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, etc, which one were they watching?" Bruce explained.

"Does it matter?" Natasha asked. Bruce shrugged.

"No, I was just curious." He answered simply. Natasha tilted to her head to the side, thinking.

"I think it was the Original Series." She told him.

"Enough of that! Barton, you said that they looked comfortable?" Tony asked Clint. He nodded.

"Yeah, they were really relaxed." Clint answered.

"Both of them?" Tony said urgently.

"Yeah." Clint said nervously. Tony smiled and relaxed back into the couch.

"Good." Was all he said. Pepper glanced at Tony cautiously.

"Did you plan this by any chance?" She asked with a look. Tony shook his head.

"Honest to goodness, cross my heart, I didn't plan a blessed thing. But I am glad that they're getting along so well, I think they'd be good for each other." He said.

"That's what I said!" Clint exclaimed.

"You're serious?!" Pepper exclaimed.

"Why wouldn't I be? Think about it Pepper! Physically, he's only 22. That's barley an age difference, only four years, less of a gap than the one that's between us in fact."

"Yes but…" Pepper began.

"They carry the same interests, and they seem to get along great." Bruce reasoned.

"True." Pepper admitted. "I'm just worried about her Tony, she's been through so much, she's so broken."

"They both are." Natasha said quietly.

"Yes, they are." Tony said quietly. "Listen Pep, Bella is one of the most important people in the universe to me, you know that. But if there's one person I know I can trust with her, it's Steve."

"So, you want them together?" Clint asked, no one missing the eagerness in his voice.

"No, no way Barton, I said no playing matchmaker, and I meant it!" Nat said firmly.

"Aww, come on Nat! What's wrong with a little nudge or two in the right direction?" Clint pouted.

"I said no and that's final Clint." Natasha said and walked out the door. Pepper and Bruce retired soon after, on their way to bed, leaving Tony and Clint alone. They exchanged looks, and sly smiles. Time to plan.


	7. It's Truth, It's Dare, It's Superman!

A week passed, Bella followed the routine her life had fallen into, wake up, train with Natasha, spar with Natasha while the others sometimes watched, lunch, watch Tony and Bruce work in the lab while they explained little things and tips that she didn't know, Social training with Pepper, dinner, and then her free time, well, Steve time. Every night, she and Steve curled up on her sofa, watching TV, or just talking. It was Monday, and Tony and Pepper were announcing her existence to the press at that very moment, and Bella was curled up on her couch, nervously biting her lip. Pepper had been diligent in her training, and had said Bella was as ready as anyone could be to deal with whatever the press threw at her.

"Bella, everything's gonna be fine, stop biting your lip before you hurt yourself. Steve said, making his presence known, touching the pad of his finger to her mouth, soothing her lip away from her teeth. Bella sighed.

"I can't help it, I always mess everything up, and now I have vultures watching my every move, waiting for me to inevitably trip so they can swoop down and swallow me whole." She said, putting her hands over her face and rubbing the bridge of her nose. She felt Steve sit down next to her, and the weight of his arm wrapping around her. She sighed, leaning her head into his chest slightly, allowing him to comfort her.

"You don't mess everything up Bella, you've been doing great with everything. Both Natasha and Pepper say that you're doing absolutely superb, not to mention you've thoroughly impressed Bruce with your intellect and knowledge about science, and Clint with your natural talent for fighting." A slow smile started to creep onto Bella's face, and the tension started to melt away from her body. Steve's hand started to unconsciously rub circles into her arm (a habit of his that Bella had discovered fairly quickly, and deeply enjoyed) and she found herself leaning further into him. If he noticed, he didn't mind.

"And don't get me started on Thor, he absolutely _adores_ you. If he wasn't so deeply in love with Jane, he probably would have proposed by now." Steve continued, pulling a laugh from Bella, which he heartily joined.

"Really?" Bella asked, peeking up at him from her hiding place in his chest. _And what about you? _She wanted to ask, but couldn't work up the nerve to. Steve smiled at her.

"Really." He told her softly.

"Hey! Boy Scout!" Tony's voice rang out over the intercom. "I know for you two every night is movie night, but for the rest of the team, Monday night is movie night, so, as our leader, you should be here! And bring Girl Scout with you, there's no way Ellie's escaping family bonding time, don't take no for an answer Cap." Steve shook his head with a smile.

"On our way." Steve said. Bella groaned.

"I don't wanna get up." she complained. Steve chuckled.

"You heard Tony, its family night, mandatory attendance." Steve said, smiling down at her.

"Humph." Bella puffed. Steve's smile turned indulgent.

"Are you coming?" He asked.

"Nope, he called me Girl Scout, I told him not to call me that anymore." Bella said, playing up the petulant child attitude, just for the sake of it. Steve shook her head, smile still in place.

"Suit yourself." He said, and scooped her up into his arms.

"Hey! Let me down!" Bella protested, halfheartedly beating his shoulder.

"Not a chance." Steve said with a grin. Bella shook her head and made the most of the ride, laying her head down on his shoulder, and her arms around his neck. The Avengers didn't so much as bat an eyelash when Steve came in, carrying Bella, gently deposited her on what had unofficially become her loveseat, and sat next to her, grabbing a gigantic bowl of popcorn and placing it on their laps.

"So, what are we watching?" Bella asked with a smile. "It must be long, since we're starting at 3:00."

"Superman marathon, Thor's pick." Natasha said. "He likes it because of their similarities."

"An alien with super strength in a red cape." Clint explained at Bella's puzzled look.

"Ah." Bella nodded, curling up next to Steve, who smiled at her. They had swiftly become close over the past week, and Bella no longer minded if she fell asleep on him, she had done it several times over the past week, and he never seemed to mind. Tony grabbed a fluffy blanket and threw it at the pair.

"Go on, get cozy, we're gonna be here for a few hours." He said. Bella shrugged and snuggled into her swiftly gained best friend, and he put his arm back around her shoulders, pulling the blanket around them both.

"What're we going to do for dinner?" Steve asked.

"I ordered pizza again." Tony replied simply, curling up with Pepper, who was miraculously without her phone. Natasha and Clint shared another loveseat, talking in low voices, and Bruce sat in an armchair, looking at Thor in amusement, as he was eagerly in front of the large flatscreen, waiting for the movie to start.

After the end of the first movie, there was a rush on the bathroom. Natasha won the battle for the nearest one, Thor the fight for the next. Bella gave up and rushed down to her own room, and got back the quickest out of all of them. They slowly filed in, sitting back into their seats. The second movie ended much the same, but this time ate pizza, laughing and talking with one another before starting the next movie.

"I don't wanna start the next movie yet." Clint whined. Natasha hit his shoulder.

"Well then, what do you suppose we do?" Natasha asked him with a frown.

"I wanna play a game!" Clint said gleefully. Was he high or something? Bella thought to herself.

"Great idea Hawkie!" Tony said with a large smile. "What'll we play?"

"Sorry?" Natasha proposed.

"Uno?" Bruce suggested. Monopoly came from Pepper, but Clint shook his head.

"No." Clint said, thinking hard, he suddenly perked up. "Let's play Truth or Dare!" Natasha put her hand in her face with a groan.

"Really Clint? I knew you were a child, but this is a new low." She told him.

"I like it!" Tony declared. "Let's play Truth or Dare!"

"Sounds good to me." Bruce said. "Just no one dare me to Hulk out." Tony nodded excitedly.

"No one's gonna ask you to Hulk out buddy." Tony said with a large smile.

"Fine." Natasha said, shaking her head. "But I'm going to get you for this Barton." She warned. Thor and Pepper agreed, Pepper albeit reluctantly, and they all gathered in a circle on the floor.

"All right, Barton, your idea, you go first." Tony said. Clint smiled evilly.

"Thor, truth or Dare?" He asked.

"I will take any challenge you offer Barton." Thor said with an air of grace.

"I dare you tooooo… Call **_Loki_** and declare your undying love for him!" Clint said, and promptly started to crack up; laughing so hard he fell over backwards. Thor's face went chalky pale, but he walked over to the phone. He pressed a set of numbers, and pressed it into his ear.

"Speakerphone." Clint prompted, and Thor turned the speaker on. Loki picked up quickly.

"What is it now Thor? I swear if it's one more plea to stop my erring ways, I'll go turn myself in to the Jotun, and _beg_ for the death penalty." Came a silky voice from the phone.

"Nay brother, I have called to tell you something." Thor said in a shaky, quiet voice.

"Well then, what is it?" Loki said impatiently. Thor looked even paler.

"I… I am in love with you, brother, deeply." Thor whispered. The other line was silent for a minute, before Loki burst out into laughter.

"My congratulations Barton, you have succeeded in traumatizing my brother, a feat I have been trying to accomplish for thousands of years." Loki said, and hung up his phone. Thor hung up the phone and walked back to the circle, taking his seat quietly.

"Your turn Thor, pick someone." Clint said, still shaking with laughter.

"Stark, Dare or Truth?" Thor said with a plotting look. Tony shrugged.

"Dare." Tony responded confidently.

"You must, scream that you wear a woman's undergarments, from the balcony over there." Thor said, pointing over to the balcony." Tony laughed.

"Good one buddy." Tony said appreciatively. "But trust me, this isn't the worst thing I've ever done." He walked calmly over to the balcony, and leaned over the edge.

"I'M WEARING WOMANS UNDERPANTS!" He bellowed down to the street, tons of stories down. He walked back, smile firmly in place.

"Capsicle, truth or dare?" He asks with a wicked smile. Steve eyed Tony cautiously.

"Truth." He decides. The grin grew even larger, and a look of triumph in his eyes.

"I want you to, in detail, describe your perfect woman, looks, personality, _everything_." Tony said wickedly. Steve turned bright red, and Bella could feel the heat radiating off of him.

"Wh… what do you mean?" Steve stuttered.

"Exactly what I said, do you want me to break it down for you?" Tony said with an amused grin. "What color hair would she have?"

"B…Brown." Steve stuttered.

"Her eyes?" came the prompt.

"Brown." Was Steve's answer. Butterflies started to swirl in Bella's stomach. _She_ had Brown hair and eyes. _"But so did his ex, Peggy."_ Bella recalled. Steve had shown her a picture that he had drawn once of her, and Bella remembered her beauty clearly. Steve had gone on for a good hour about her, talking about her tenacity, her kind heart, and brave spirit.

"Her personality?" Tony prompted again.

"Funny, kind, brave, intelligent. Not afraid to act childlike from time to time, always willing to listen when someone has a problem, loyal, and not afraid to stand up for what she believes in." Steve was still beet red, but had a small smile on his face, as if imagining being with the woman of his dreams. Bella felt something sink into the pit of her stomach, she could see his perfect woman in her minds eye, beautiful, perfect in every way, the best that womankind had to offer. And Steve deserved the best. She couldn't help it, she compared herself to Steve's ideal woman, and fell laughably short. There wasn't even a contest, just herself being trampled by the other. Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Tony piped up, a deep, meaningful glance at Pepper.

"Alright then, your turn Cap." He said. Steve turned to Clint.

"Truth or Dare Barton?" he asked with an innocent looking smile. Clint snorted.

"Hit me with your best shot Rogers, I'm sure I can handle it." Clint said with a cocky attitude. An idea lit up Bella's min. she beckoned Steve close, and whispered in his ear. Steve looked at her, glee lighting up his face as he nodded mischief sparkling in his beautiful sea blue eyes. Bella was unable to look away, fascinated by the sudden change in his usually kind sky blue eyes. Now they were blazing, like blue fire, his gaze burning her skin. She let out a heavy breath as Steve turned to Clint and told him his dare.

"No way!" Clint yelled as soon as he heard it.

"You have to." Bella said with a smug smile.

"No!" Clint exclaimed.

"Are you chickening out Barton?" Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow. Clint's shoulders sagged, and he slumped out of the room. An hour later, he dragged his feet back in, and plopped back in his spot, trying to ignore the uproar of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled, running his fingers through his now bubblegum pink hair. "You're gonna pay for that Stark, mark my words."

"Your turn." Bella called cheerfully, unaware of what was in store for her.

"Bella, truth or dare?" Clint asked, his eyes glinting with an evil, manic light. Bella considered it for a moment, before deciding which sentence she would be doomed to carry out.

"Truth." She told him. Barton lit up like it was Christmas Day.

"What…" he began. "Was your gay-ass pixie boyfriend like in the sack?" Bella shocked him by laughing outright.

"I wouldn't know." She replied honestly. Everyone stared at her in shock.

"You were together for a year!" Tony exclaimed. Bella nodded.

"And you never had sex with him?" Clint said in shock. Bella shook her head.

"No, thank god." She said.

"Wait, so you're a virgin?" Clint asked. Bella blushed.

"I already answered your question Barton, but yes I am, and I pass my turn. Nat, you go." Bella said quickly.

"How can you be a virgin?" Clint asked incredulously.

"It's called morals Clint." Bella snapped. Natasha and Pepper glowered at Clint too. Tensions started to rise, and Nat looked like she was about to kill Clint.

"How about we start the next movie?" Steve interjected quickly.

"I second that!" Clint said and raced to sit in front of the TV with Thor, as far away from Nat as possible.

"Me too!" Bella said, eager to get away from the awkwardness of having her virginal status announced to her family. They all resumed their seating, Natasha sitting alone on the loveseat this time, and continued their marathon.

"You're an utter moron Barton." Tony told him the next morning from the lab, Bruce still asleep.

"Oh shut it Tony." Clint snapped.

"You were supposed to ask her what guy in the room she would rather kiss, not embarrass her in front of everybody!" Tony exclaimed.

"She made me dye my hair pink!" Clint yelled, gesturing to his hair that would have to remain the bright shade of bubblegum for the next week. "So yes, I wanted a little bit of revenge." Tony shook his head.

"I'm not protecting you from Nat and Pepper. That's all you buddy. Now scram, before one of them finds me 'fraternizing with the enemy'." Clint rolled his eyes and made for the door.

"And Barton?" Tony called after him. "Stick to the plan next time, you idiot." After Clint walked away, Tony pulled up an image on screen, a live feed from the living room, where Bella and Steve were curled up together on the couch, fast asleep. Bella's head was on his shoulder, one arm wrapped around him, and the other clutching his blue shirt. Steve's arms were wrapped securely around her, and his head leaned on top of hers.

He woke up presently, rubbed an eye and ran his fingers through his hair. He glanced down at Bella, curled up so cutely in his arms, and smiled softly. He adjusted her in his arms slightly, so they were more comfortable, expertly making it so they were lying down, instead of sitting up, without even jostling her. Bella shifted in her sleep and sighed, snuggling even closer to him. Steve's arms tightened slightly around her, and he gently, almost lovingly lifted a lock of hair out of her face. He soon fell back asleep, a content smile on his face.

And that was the only affirmation that Tony needed that he was doing the right thing.


	8. Green Eyed Monster

Weeks past, and before anyone knew it, Bella had been with her new family for six months. She continued to train with Natasha, study with Bruce, watch Bruce and Tony in the lab, and spend her evenings with Steve. Pepper and Nat were like mothers and older sisters at the same time, Thor was the absolutely loveable big brother, Clint the one who constantly teased her and who she teased, Tony her fun loving, always ready for anything type, and Bruce the quiet, sympathetic confidante. As for Steve, well…she would by lying if she said she loved him like a brother. Her feelings for him were…complicated.

They finished Star Trek the original series, and had moved on to the next generation. Sometimes they talked; sometimes they sat in comfortable silence. Steve seemed to get Bella, understand her like no one else had ever had. To Tony she might be an open book, and to Edward she might have been like a foreign language, but to Steve she was a book that he read, one chapter at a time. He wasn't in any rush, just simply enjoying the story as it unfolded over the days, weeks, and months. And Bella greatly appreciated that.

Pepper had been pressuring her to have some sort of 'coming out' party, to be formally introduced as Isabella Stark to the world. She had somehow been avoiding it for about five months now, but knew she would have to face it eventually.

* * *

"What?!" She shrieked, jumping to her feet. "**_Tomorrow_**_?_ Don't I get a say in this? Couldn't you have at least told me that you were planning it, and not wait until the _day before_?" Pepper looked as calm as ever, looking over Bella's schedule that she kept in her phone.

"If I had, you would have somehow managed to wiggle out of it, like you have been for the last few months." She told her, and Bella nodded acceptingly.

"True, but seriously, the day before?" she asked. Pepper gave her an apologetic look.

"Sorry." She said, Bella shook her head with a sigh.

"It's fine; it was bound to happen sooner or later. So, what should I wear tomorrow night?" Pepper and Nat, who was sitting on her bed, both smiled, and went over to the closet.

They happily pulled out all of Bella's formal wear, and looked over them all. As she pulled her shirt over her head, so she could try on a dress there came a small gasp.

"What?" she asked, looking at Pepper. Pepper said nothing, and Natasha steered her over to the full length mirror, and Bella gasped too. She had never really realized the gradual change in her body as the months passed, but now she did. The protruding ribs were gone, replaced by a soft, yet muscular curve. Her albino skin had actually gained some color from fighting on the roof every day. Her figure had filled out wonderfully, all delicious curves and muscle. She wasn't the gangly, skinny girl anymore. She was the strong, lean woman, who was no longer waiting for her… endowment to come on.

"It's a good thing we left room for you to grow in you clothes." Pepper said finally. Nat nodded in agreement and handed Bella a dress for her to try on. They spent a happy few hours playing fashion week, before they finally found the perfect dress.

"Beautiful." Natasha complimented, causing Bella to blush.

"Perfect." Pepper agreed. "Beautiful, sophisticated, yet suited to your age, one of a kind, extraordinarily becoming. All in all, perfect."

"Now all we have to do is tell Thor and Steve." Nat said. Pepper nodded.

"I'll go tell them, you're doing Bella's hair." She said, walking out of the room. Nat smiled softly and started on Bella's hair.

The next morning Bella woke at 4:00, as usual, but all Nat had her do was their run around the city and some light weight training. When they were done and showered, Pepper met them, as per usual. But she was put in a slightly fancier outfit than normal, dark blue skinny jeans and a dark purple form fitting blouse, with bright, crisp white lace as accents. The dress and accessories she was to wear were neatly packed away, and they made their way to the car waiting, which happened to be a limo.

"Where are we going?" Bella asked as they entered the limo. Nat and Pepper smiled at her, a hint of mischief in their eyes.

"Spa day." Came the simple answer.

* * *

Said 'spa' was _enormous_, and filled with every luxury woman could ever possibly need or even think of.

"The party isn't being held at Stark Towers." Pepper explained. "So we're leaving that for the boys to use to prepare, and having a little fun ourselves. If there's anything I know that Tony's capable of, it's making sure the boys look good for a party, so I can relax." Bella was given into the hands of a very capable woman by the name of Kelly, who seemed delighted at the prospect of working with the new Stark. Pepper and Natasha were on either side of her, with their own attendants. First off came a massage, which felt absolutely heavenly after two months of having her ass kicked by Natasha. Then came some time in a hot tub with Pepper and Nat, before relaxing even further in the steam room.

"Wow, they're big on relaxation here." Bella said with a happy sigh. "It's nice." Pepper and Natasha agreed with her whole heartedly, and chatted while they were taken back for another massage, this time placing hot, smooth stones all the way down her back. Then Kelly rubbed scented oil into her skin, with her choice of lavender, vanilla, or rose petal. Pepper chose vanilla, Natasha lavender, and Bella rose.

She was then brought to a sink, where they washed her hair with some warm smelling shampoo and conditioner. She was given a manicure and pedicure, not using nail polish, just the simple French style. And then she, Nat and Pepper were brought over to the hair and makeup station, where Kelly proceeded to blow dry, straighten, curl and fill her hair with product. Bella closed her eyes, and enjoyed the feeling of having someone else do her hair. Kelly was just as skilled as Natasha, but lacked her gentleness and quick, but perfect movements. But the after affect was perfect, silky curls resting on her shoulders. But Kelly wasn't done, she pulled her hair up into an elegant twist, leaving small strands of hair out, framing her face. Kelly then set out on Bella's makeup, powdering, tweezing and practically painting her to perfection.

When Kelly was at long last done, she Nat and Pepper were brought to a private room, with chaise lounges, a large flatscreen TV, and a table set with food. They quickly ate, and opened a bottle of wine that was waiting for them. Natasha winked as she passed a glass to Bella. After about another hour, at 4:00, the started to get ready, slipping into their dresses, Pepper's a dark mauve, and Natasha's emerald green.

Bella's was navy blue, a halter neckline hugging her top form, and falling gracefully to her feet. Silver embroidery adorned her waist. She was given strappy blue high heeled shoes, which was the cause for a brief second of alarm, before she realized. She hadn't even stumbled since she had begun training with Natasha. That didn't mean she wanted to tempt fate though.

"Don't worry." Natasha said, noticing her distress. "You'll be fine, it's all in the confidence, don't think about it." Bella sighed, and nodded. Nat smiled and gave her an oh-so-light sideways hug, and took her hand comfortingly, Pepper doing the same on the other side, and they went off, back to the limo, laughing and talking excitedly, high heels the last thing on Bella's mind.

The party was being held at some sort of ballroom, with high gold colored walls, elaborate paintings, and an entire wall of glass, looking over a stone patio, and a lovely garden. They were bout to be announced, and Pepper leaned over an whispered into Bella's ear.

"Remember, big smile, controlled voice, and never let on if you're startled." Bella nodded, and the trio slid into the room. A man by the door spoke loudly to the assembly, announcing them.

The entire room froze, all of them looking at Bella, who had forced a relaxed smile onto her face, attempting to seep confidence from every pore, like Tony did. Cameras flashed, and Bella's fake smile grew. She waved at hem in what she prayed was a confident manner. When Bella felt like she couldn't take any more, Tony was suddenly by her side, a hand on the small of her back, guiding her away from the vultures.

"Ah, Ella, there you are." He said when he reached her. "You look great." He complimented. Bella smiled at her thrice beloved godfather, who had just rescued her from the fate worse than death.

"Thanks Tony." She told him, and she knew that he understood the double thanks.

"Anytime Ellie, anytime." He said, still steering her away. "Come on, let's get you some punch, and then I'll start introducing you around, Pepper's orders." Bella shook her head.

"Is she trying to make this as uncomfortable as possible for me?" She hissed.

"You'll be fine, just relax, ok? Go to your happy place, be yourself, and I'll fire anyone who decides to be a smart-ass." Tony coached. Bella rolled her eyes and smiled.

"You always know just what to say." She quipped. Tony gave a small laugh and a sideways hug, still leading her over to the punch bowl that must have been there for her benefit, being strictly speaking underage. The first people she was introduced to were Stark Industries board members. The following conversation made Bella want to cry, desperate tears of boredom. Not to mention the strong smell of old man and cigar smoke that hung in the air around them. As they walked away, Tony shook his head and sighed.

"Damn, I really wanted to be able to fire those guys." Bella looked at him.

"But you can fire them any time you like." She said. Tony shook his head.

"Pepper won't let me, unless I have good reason. And I like my head where it is, thank you very much."

She was led around, to group after group, introduced, made small talk, and move on. Tony was by her side the whole time, and she could see Pepper talking to the reporters, cameras sometimes flashing in her direction. She scanned the crowd, almost desperate for another familiar face, something to cling to, since she didn't want to cut off the circulation in Tony's arm. And then, like the utter angel he was, Steve was right next to her, putting one of his strong hands on her shoulder.

"Steve!" she exclaimed delightedly, giving him a small, quick hug. Normally she wouldn't do something like that in public, but she was just so glad to see him.

**(Steve POV)**

"Bella." Steve smiled, happy to see her, hugging her back. "How's the party going?" Bella sighed at that question.

"That bad huh?" He asked sympathetically, and Bella shrugged.

"No, not really, just a bit dull." Steve nodded, and, spotting a couple of reporters that escaped Pepper making their way towards them, gently guided Bella away, the whole family eager to keep Bella out of the uncomfortable situation as long as possible.

Quite a few had escaped Pepper by now, so Tony was rounding up the strays. Clint and Natasha - separately, because Nat was still mad about the Truth or Dare game, where Thor, Clint, he and Bella had been thoroughly embarrased - were patrolling a small perimeter around Bella, using their skill to pass unseen, but would pop up just when a reporter was coming and glare, or simply distract, so Steve could get her away, which Clint was doing now. Bruce was walking around, picking up on the gossip about Bella, so they could be prepared if anything were to go awry. The whole party was being treated like a military operation to the team, and the objective was simple, but not as easily carried out: Make Bella as comfortable as possible, and still somewhat satisfy the Press.

His mind wandered back to the truth or dare game, where Bella had been thoroughly mortified by Clint, who, Steve reflected with some satisfaction, had been punished by Natasha and Pepper quite severely. He himself had decided a good prank was in order, and had yet to pull, biding his time with a patience that you could only gain from fighting a war.

Tony and Bruce were in on it, had helped him refine his plan, and had given it life, making it possible. Bella would be quietly avenged, as was their job. But it wasn't as if they expected Clint to be quiet about what was coming for him, no. as Tony had said, 'I can hear his man-girl shrieks from here, and that's quite a feat.'

Bella looked beautiful, her ivory skin set off perfectly by the dark blue fabric of her dress. He had watched her over the past two months, grow prettier by the day. Pepper kept saying that it was because her confidence was growing, and he couldn't argue with that. She stood taller, walked with purpose, and something about the way her mouth was set warned you not to mess with her. She reminded him of a painting he had once seen of Calypso, with her clear, lovely skin, the blue and silver dress, and her hair, swept up in graceful curls.

Looking at her hurt at first, when he had first locked eyes on her, because, when he looked at her, all he saw was Peggy. But, quicker than he had thought was possible, she became her own person in his mind, and now, whenever he saw a girl with brown hair, and brown eyes, he didn't see Peggy, he saw Bella. And that fact scared him. But Bella was just so kind, so welcoming, that he couldn't be afraid around her. Isabella Stark had quickly become his best friend, and the one person he felt he could confide in.

He freely admitted to himself that his feelings had never been brotherly, but he couldn't quite place where they were now. But the fact remained, Bella was his closest and best friend, and he hadn't cared for anyone this much since Bucky fell, since he was unable to save him in time. But that was never going to happen again.

He would be damned if anything happened to _her_ on his watch.

Bella and Steve chatted for a while, Bella sometimes spotting Nat, Clint and Bruce in the crowd. Tony and Pepper were talking to reporters, thankfully not bringing any to talk to _her._ Soon, though, a new form of torture arrived. Dancing. Tony came over to her, and offered her his arm.

"May I have this dance Miss Stark?" He asked in such a funny imitation of an elegant voice, that Bella couldn't help laughing.

The dance wasn't as horrible as she expected it to be, she hadn't fallen, and she and Tony were making fun of the other guests under their breaths. Tony glanced over Bella's shoulder and rolled his eyes.

"About time." He muttered.

"What?" She asked.

"The Fantastic Four, they finally got here. They're always late." Tony steered Bella towards the newcomers, and shook Reed's hand. He introduced the four, and Bella, like with Hulk, had not minded Ben in the slightest, in fact got along with him nicely. Sue was nice too, but she didn't click with her like she did with Nat and Pepper. Reed and Bella got along great, but one, tiny little thing threw her off.

Johnny Storm looked _exactly_ like Steve.

Seriously, they could be twins, they were absolutely identical. But Johnny seemed… younger than Steve, more like her own age, at least mentally, and had a playful, mischievous little grin on his face, and a teasing sparkle in his eye. By the looks of it, she and Johnny could be friends, but the looks really threw her off for a bit. He had a crooked grin that _would_ have reminded her of Edward, but had such an intense level of boyish glee, that Edward was the farthest thing form her mind. He stepped forward, and took her hand, grin in place.

"Johnny Storm, also known as the Human Torch." He said in a cocky voice, very similar to Tony's. Wow, he was right, Johnny Storm was _really_ a lot like Tony, and Bella had realized that within minutes of meeting him. And they did get along well, and a light, teasing dynamic was established by the end of the first dance that they shared. Said dynamic was a little bit too flirty on Johnny's side for Bella's liking, but his easygoing nature made up for that.

She also danced with Reed, both of them talking about some of Reed's studies, and, much to Reed's delight, Bella understood most of what he said, being fluent in the language of science shorthand. She was invited to the Baxter Building, where Reed promised to help her with her science as well, whenever she liked.

Ben and Bella dancing was a little awkward at first, Ben being very careful to not tread on her toes, but they soon set a rhythm, and spun about as gracefully as any other pair.

It was while Bella and Johnny were dancing again that Bella saw it. Steve's back was toward her, but it wasn't exactly that which had caught her eye. What caught her eye was the tall blonde woman that seemed familiar to Bella, that was standing very close to Steve. Too close. Bella's eyes were fixed on the blonde woman as she put her arm on Steve's shoulder, stepping even closer to him, giving him a seductive, alluring smile. Bella felt her hand clench into a fist on Johnny's arm, who looked down at her and followed her line of sight. A knowing look crossed his face, and he let go of Bella.

"I think I've had my turn." He said with a smirk. "Why don't you go ask the Captain over there if he'll give ya a spin? I'm sure he'd be happy to oblige." He leaned forward slightly, taking Bella's hand, like he was shaking it. "And between you and me, he doesn't look too comfortable with that blonde chick, just thought you'd be interested to know." And with that, he walked back over to where Sue was talking to a friend of hers. Bella turned back to the scene with Steve, and made her decision, promptly walking over to the pair of blondes.

"Are you sure?" she heard the woman ask. Johnny had been right, Steve looked very uncomfortable. But what really gave Bella a disgusted shiver was that the woman was over ten years older than Steve. She put on a falsely sweet smile as she walked over to the pair.

"Hi Steve!" She said cheerily, smiling her sickly sweet smile at the woman. Steve turned to Bella at once, relief clear on his features.

"Bella!" He exclaimed, and the expression of pure relief and happiness to see her pulled a real smile out. The blonde woman pouted, crossing her arms, but was ignored by the other two.

"I came to see if you maybe wanted to dance with me, but, it seems you're busy, I'm sorry." She said, gesturing to the older woman.

"Yes, he is." The woman snapped.

"No, I'd love to!" Steve said at the same time. The woman gave an outraged huff, and stalked away. Steve breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who was that?" Bella asked with a small giggle. "You looked like you were drowning in cheep perfume and bleached curls." Steve shook his head with a small laugh.

"Reporter, I thought she was trying to corner you." He explained. Bella smiled at him, touched. Steve smiled softly, and offered her his arm. "I promised you a dance, and you'll get one, but I warn you, I've never danced before." Bella took his arm, and he led her to the dance floor.

"That's ok Steve." She whispered. "I'm not much of a dancer either, but I've been told that it's all about having the right partner." Steve rested one of his hands on her waist, and the other on her small shoulder. All too familiar electric tingles traveled up and down her spine, and hummed in the air between them. Their eyes locked, blue and brown, and they started moving. A slow, sweet song started, and they inched closer, slowly circling their way across the room. They were well matched, their arms immediately slotting into an easy, comfortable position to both, and moved smoothly, not a single bump or misstep in sight.

"You're better at this than you give yourself credit for." Bella said, a small smile playing across her features. Steve's hand on her waist tightened slightly, almost unnoticeably, and he smiled too.

"You're very good too." He commented. "I saw you dancing earlier, you were very graceful, Sue Storm was impressed when she saw you dancing with Johnny." Bella looked up at him in shock.

"Really?" She breathed. He nodded.

"Really." He promised. As they spun around, Bella saw two things at once.

One: the blonde woman from earlier was talking to one of the other guests, both of them giving looks in Bella's direction. Disgust was on the face of the guest, and false disgust, with underlying satisfaction coloring the blonde reporter's face.

Two: Bruce was nearby, and had heard everything that had passed between the blonde reporter and the guest, and he was not happy about what he had heard. Green seeped into his eyes, and started to tint his skin. Bruce closed his eyes, and started to breathe deeply, trying to calm himself down, but he wasn't succeeding.

"Steve." She said urgently, shaking his arm. Steve turned at the sound of her urgent voice, and paled slightly when he saw Bruce. Bella expected him to go try and clear the area around Bruce, but instead he immediately angled himself so she was completely sheltered. And, just as the Hulk's angry roar filled the room, Bella realized why the blonde woman had looked so familiar. As she had been knocked to the ground by The Hulk's transformation, her blonde curls fell of, skidding across the floor, to reveal mahogany brown.

_**How could she have been so blind?**_

That was no reporter.

That was her _mother_.


	9. Mother Dear

**"HULK SMASH!"** came the roar. Bella tore her eyes away from her one time mother and looked at the Hulk. He seemed furious. What had her mother said to get Bruce so angry? Steve pulled her back, away from the angry green superhero, just as Tony rushed forward.

"Hey big guy, what's up?" Tony asked with a smile, calm as if Hulk had been on the guest list. The screams of the guests died down, and everyone was on the far side of the room, as far away from Hulk as possible.

**"WOMAN SAY BAD THINGS ABOUT BELLA! HULK PROTECT BELLA!" **Hulk said angrily. Bella saw an angry look in Tony's eye now, putting two and two together, like Bella had. It must have been one hell of a nasty thing Renee said, to make Bruce loose control like that.

"Well Buddy," Tony said, still calm and collected. "I'm sure Bella's ok now, so why don't we just go get you home then, ok?" Hulk hesitated, and Bella walked forward, Steve allowing her to break free of his grasp, because there was no way she would have otherwise.

"Hey Buddy." Bella said once she reached them, stopping at Tony's side.

**"Woman say bad things about Bella, Hulk protect Bella from bad things**.**"** Hulk told her. Bella smiled in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

"Yeah, I know big guy, but it's ok, I don't mind" she told him. Hulk frowned, but didn't make for the crowd on the other side of the room, where the remaining Avengers, and The Fantastic Four were at the ready, just in case.

"Ok?" Hulk asked her dubiously, and Bella nodded.

"Yeah, it's fine. So why don't we just go home, huh?" Tony nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, let's blow this joint!" Hulk laughed, practically shaking the room. Everything was fine.

Bella scanned the room urgently, looking for Renee.

She was nowhere to be found.

Ok, maybe not so fine after all.

* * *

The Avengers were gathered back in Stark Tower, none of them even taking the time to change into more suitable clothing. Bruce was wrapped in a blanket, explaining what had happened to the ones who hadn't seen, like Bella had.

"It's kind of ridiculous actually." Bruce said, embarrassed. "That blonde reporter was spreading some nasty rumors about Bella, and it set me off." Bella smiled at Bruce, and walked over to where he sat, and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you." She whispered. Bruce froze for a moment, before wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"N..not a problem Bella." He said, still stuttering in surprise. Bella then turned to the group, doubtful, but determined.

"That wasn't a reporter." She told them. The entire group looked at her wearily.

"Who was it that was spreading rumors about you then, Sister Bella?" Bella looked at her feet, took a deep breath, and rushed the next words out.

"_ItwasRenee_." She took another deep breath. "My mother."

* * *

Déjà vu. That's what Bella's feeling now. This had happened before, and the result was the Epic Cullen Beatdown, as Clint and Tony had taken to calling it.

Silence.

Everyone was staring at her; Nat and Pepper once again in full out mother bear mode, everyone looking angry and protective. But this time they actually knew her. Intimately. She was family to them, and the woman who had caused her so much pain was within their grasp. They wouldn't stand for it.

But this was different, she was a different person, and this was a different problem. The same solution couldn't apply. Because, as much as she hated, and was afraid of Renee, this was the woman that gave birth to her, had raised her, albeit poorly. And by the looks on her family's faces, they were ready to kill. Bella knew what was about to come, as sure as she had gotten a vision like Alice. Sure enough, the yelling and ranting began presently.

"I can't believe it! That little bitch dared to come here!"

"That menace needs to go!"

"I say it's time for another beatdown!"

Tony, Clint, Thor and Nat were screaming, no allies there. Bruce was struggling to remain in control of himself, best leave him be. But Steve, Steve was quiet. He was furious, she could tell, but remained calm, and completely in control of himself. She made her way over to her best friend, and took his hand. He looked down at her, his blue eyes hard, angry, but softening a little once he locked eyes with her. He seemed to understand her pleading look at once.

"Please." She whispered to him, vulnerable and afraid for the first time since Charlie's death. He pulled her into his arms, reassuring her quietly, a hand stroking her hair. An overwhelming feeling of safety ran through her, and electricity prickled down her spine. She didn't know at the time what on earth had possessed her to do it, but she pressed her lips onto his cheek, clutching at him tightly, like he was her lifeline in the ocean, and she was drowning.

"I'll take care of it Bella." He told her, setting her down on the couch they always shared and wrapping a blanket securely around her. "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine."

And she believed him. He would make things alright for her, she was sure.

* * *

**(Steve POV)**

Steve looked at Bella, who had gone into shock from the events of the evening. She had fallen asleep, exhausted. Not that he blamed her, it was incredible that she had managed to hold on this long. The team, all screaming profanities behind him had probably set her off. Speaking of which, it looked like he had an unruly team to call to order.

"Quiet!" He commanded, cutting through the racket. Everyone immediately silenced. They all spotted Bella sleeping, and had the decency to look sheepish.

"Listen," He said. "This isn't just some vampire that Bella dated, this is her mother you're talking about killing." Their sheepish looks grew. "Now, before you start Tony," Steve gave Tony a firm look. "Yes, Renee was awful to Bella, but she's still her mother. Imagine what it would do to Bella if we did anything to her, especially _killed _her?" Everyone nodded glumly, accepting their Captain's words.

"Besides." Natasha pointed out in an irritated voice. "We have no idea where she is."

"And no way of finding her." Pepper concluded, also annoyed at that fact.

"So it's decided." Steve said. "We don't do anything to Renee." Everyone nodded.

Tony frowned.

"Bella has a tough time ahead of her." he observed. Everyone looked gravely at the sleeping youngest member of the family.

"And that's why we're going to be there for her." Bruce says. "As much as we possibly can." And with that, the meeting adjourned.

Steve looked down at Bella again, considered leaving her on the couch for the night, but decided that she would be better of in the comfort of her own bed. He easily lifted her form, not the delicate toothpick she was when they first met, but still incredibly slight to him, and brought her up to her room, just a floor beneath Tony's. The floor that had been off limits to the Avengers the entire time they had been living in Stark Tower, but it had never been known why.

They all had been shocked when Tony came in one day, saying that his goddaughter was coming to live with them, and all but Natasha had been even more shocked to find out that this had been the floor specifically reserved for Bella.

Bella was Tony's world; he had learned that fact very quickly. She was his weak spot, the only person he cared about more than Pepper.

He reached Bella's room then, and gently laid her down on her bed, pulling the blankets up around her. He looked at her for a moment, remembering the feeling of her lips on his cheek, and the burning sensation it had caused. He softly pressed his own lips to Bella's forehead.

Bella had difficult times ahead of her, but he would stand at her side and help her through it. They all would. She was family, and she was his… friend.

He wasn't sure why bitterness filled his heart at that, or the image of Bella dancing with so many men burned behind his eyes. But he put that aside. Bella needed him, and that was the most important thing.

When Bella woke, the room was brighter than it should be. She yawned and glanced at the clock, and sprang out of bed like a fire had been lit under her. 9:00? She had missed half of her training with Natasha! Why hadn't anyone come to get her? The events of last night flashed to the forefront of her mind. They must have left her in bed because they thought she needed it. Warm contentment filled her heart. For once, people were actually taking care of her. The weight of the world had been lifted off of her shoulders, and now they shared the burden equally.

The moment she set foot on the correct floor she knew. Tony had been cooking. He was, quite simply the best cook in the entire world. _And_ he knew her weakness for blueberry flavored things, which was proven in full when he set and enormous stack of blueberry pancakes in front of her.

"There you go Ella, breakfast of champions." He said, placing blueberry syrup on the table as well. There was no one else in the room with them, but Bella had a sneaking suspicion that the ventilation system was currently employed for something other than what it was created for.

"You're the best Tony ever." She told him, in a serious tone. She was still half asleep, absolutely no energy in her whatsoever. Tony sighed at sat down next to her, pulling her into a hug.

"Don't let her get to you Ellie." He said softly, holding his precious goddaughter close. "If you do then she wins before this even starts." Bella nodded noncommittally, but Tony was having none of that. He pushed her away slightly, just enough so that they could make eye contact.

"Isabella." He said firmly, startling Bella into attention. He never used her full name. "I'm not going to stand for this. You are not taking this lying down. You are going to stand tall and take no shit. You're a Stark now Isabella, and you're going to handle this mess like one." Bella felt a smile wash over her face. They spoke in unison.

"A smirk and sharp phrase, with middle finger raised." The family motto.

* * *

Everyone was in the living room when Bella and Tony entered, though Bella thought that Clint's nonchalant attitude might be a little forced.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Bruce asked as soon as they were all gathered.

"**You** are all going to do whatever the hell you want, as long as my Tower stays in prime condition. **I** am taking my goddaughter out for some quality bonding time." Tony said simply. He turned to Bella. "You might want to wear something nice. The press follow us like bloodhounds wherever we go, and I have a surprise for you later."

And so Bella found herself in a knee length white eyelet lace sundress, brown gladiator sandals, and a pair of $300 sunglasses that Pepper and Natasha had insisted on buying.

Tony looked handsome in a black suit, with no tie. And from the looks Pepper was sending his way, she thought so too. He walked over to Bella and handed her two small boxes.

"I realized yesterday that I hadn't spoiled you nearly half enough recently, and felt that, as my duty as your godfather, that was completely unacceptable. So, I fixed that yesterday before the party. He gestured for her to open one of the parcels, the long rectangular one.

Nestled inside was a silver necklace, a cresset moon pendent hanging off of the end. Set just inside the curve was a bright blue stone. And, knowing Tony, it was probably a blue Diamond. Or quite possibly a Dodo egg. Neither was impossible for Tony Stark. He helped her put it on, and opened the other box, small and square.

It ended up being a silver charm bracelet, and Tony had taken the liberty of adding the first few charms himself.

The first was a tiny diamond swan, catching the light and casting small rainbows. The second, much to the amusement of everyone in the room, was a tiny silver Taser, to celebrate her win against Rosalie. And lastly, the Stark Industries logo, a silent reminder of who she was, and where she had come from. All thoughts of protestation left her mind, and she hugged Tony tightly.

As it turned out, the jewelry wasn't the only gift Tony had bought her.

"Tony!" She screamed, torn between being furious and wanting to hug him again.

"What? It was practical, you needed one."

"You have about twenty! Besides, I wouldn't end up using it all that much." Bella said, not letting it go.

"You should have your own, your 18, and you should start using it, you spend all your time training or studying, live a little Ellie!"

"Still, an _Audi R8_? Any car would have been fine!" Yes, Tony had bought Bella a car. A white Audi R8, as Bella had been quick to notice.

"Starks only have the best." Tony pointed out. Bella shook her head, and gave in.

They went to Coney Island, and spent the rest of the day laughing and talking. Eating candy and playing games. Just as Tony said, the press was following them everywhere, but she couldn't bring herself to mind. She hadn't spent time with Tony like this in _years_.

He took her out to dinner, to an incredibly fancy restaurant that Bella was sure you needed a three month reservation too to even look at it. And it was there that Bella had her first real run in with the Press.

It was stressful, uncomfortable, but Bella handled it perfectly, a smile in place and her voice smooth. She answered the questions they posed, smiled for the cameras, and it was done.

"That wasn't so bad." She commented at they took their seats.

"That was amazing Ellie!" Tony said, impressed. "You handled that perfectly. I knew that they were going to love you. Just watch, you're very nature will have you as America's Golden Girl before the end of the summer."

And lastly, came Tony's surprise.

"Wait, so you're saying that the car _wasn't_ the surprise?" Bella asked incredulously.

"I'm making up for not spoiling you as much as I should have over the past few years." Tony said, pulling the car into a parking place.

When Bella found out where he had taken her, it took all she had not to jump up and down and squeal like she was a little girl again.

Tony had taken her to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

* * *

It was just like when she was little, Tony watching Disney movies with her. She knew that she meant more to him than every one else in the world put together, and maybe that was a bit unhealthy, but she couldn't judge, because she felt the exact same way. She loved Tony more than she had loved her own father, because it was with Tony, and only with Tony, that she had been able to be an actual child, not the little middle aged girl.

She could love Disney, she didn't have to cook for herself, she could spend the day playing tea parties, or princess. If she was honest with herself, Tony and Pepper had raised her. They were the ones that played with her, that she always went to when she was sad or scared. Charlie was a good man, but he lived for his work, he loved Bella, but was always too busy to play with her, whereas Pepper, who could never be seen without her phone, had almost always put the phone down without question when little Bella had come to her.

No one but the three of them ever knew this, but Tony had given Bella a special three way device that could let them talk, anytime. Bella as a child had often used it after a nightmare, calling up Tony or Pepper in the middle of the night, and they were never upset at her.

It was through that very same device that Bella had contacted Tony, afraid for what might happen to her at the hands of Renee.

The end of the show came, and true love won out. Bella and Tony walked hand in hand, before Bella suddenly stopped, in need of what the Vampires had called a 'Human Moment'.

"Be right back." She told Tony, and made her way to the little girl's room. She went about her business, and made to leave. All of a sudden pain blossomed in the back of her head, and she fell to the ground, the world going black.

* * *

There was a musty scent filling her nose when she regained consciousness. She stayed still, eyes closed, not wanting her kidnapper to know that she was awake. A sharp blow landed on her ribs.

"I know when you're awake, you ungrateful little wretch." He eyes flew open. Yes, it was Renee, with a cold, manic gleam in her eyes. Hatred surged up for the woman before her, and she lunged. Or tried to, as she suddenly realized that she was tied to a chair. Unfortunately, now the chair was on it's side, cracking Bella's head on the floor. Renee's cruel laughter filled the abandoned warehouse.

"So, my dear _daughter_." Renee said with an evil smile. "How was _England_?" another kick to her ribs. She felt something give way, and she knew she at least had a broken rib.

"I was so heartbroken when I found out that you 'came back', and hadn't come to see me." A kick went to her face then, breaking her nose. "You little bitch." A knife was suddenly in Renee's hand. She lashed at Bella, breaking skin, causing her to bleed onto her white dress, onto the floor, making her lie in a pool of her own blood. She cried out in pain.

Hopelessness filled her entire being; she wanted Tony, to save her, to tell her it's ok. Wait, no, it wasn't Tony that she longed for, she wanted Steve. She wanted the security that he provided. She wanted him to put his arms around her, for him to hold her. She remembered the electrical tingles that she felt whenever he touched her now. She knew what the electricity meant, but she had pushed it to the back of her mind, reluctant to feel the things that she was for her best friend. Now that she was once again facing death, she couldn't deny it.

She was in love with Steve. She loved him, and she had to escape.

Bella watched her one time mother, and, just as the knife was about to pierce her again, she wiggled out of the way, just right. Renee had cut through her bindings. The months Natasha had spent training her in combat were paying off. Renee lunged, letting her anger control her. Bella neatly dodged to the side, grabbing the woman's arm, and brought her leg out in a sweeping motion, knocking Renee's legs out from under her.

Renee recovered too quickly, rolling up and attacking again. And so it went on, for what felt like hours. Bella had the advantage, from her long hours of sparring with Natasha, but she was weakening, blood loss taking it's toll. Renee swung at her with the knife, and Bella dodged again and grabbed her mother's arm, this time bringing her fist into her arm, and the feeling of something giving way. Renee screamed in pain, dropping the knife. But she still kept coming, clawing at Bella's face, leaving four bloody trails across her face. Without thinking Bella grabbed the nearest object, the knife and tried to defend herself with it. They grappled for another few minutes. Bella couldn't last much longer. Without thinking she swung her arm up, trying to push Renee off. The knife met flesh, soft and yielding. She felt her mother's blood splatter onto her face, mingling with her own. She rolled her mother off of her, gasping. She started struggling for the door, wincing. She fell to the ground, black spots dancing across her vision. There was suddenly an explosion above her, and in the doorway several yards in front of her. The last thing she saw before the darkness closed around her once again, was the horrified face of Steve Rogers, rushing forward.

"Bella!" He shouted, his voice fearful. And black enclosed her vision.


	10. Livin' La Vida Loki

_Beep… Beep…Beep_

Bella opened her eyes, and blinked. An all too familiar smell washed up her nose. Antiseptic. She was in a hospital.

"SHIELD private hospital, in case you were wondering." Came Tony's voice. He was sitting in the chair next to her, still in the same clothes as before. "You were out for three days, Bella. You nearly died."

"So, business as usual then." She said weakly. Tony shook his head with a laugh.

"You really are a Stark, we're the only ones who would be making jokes just after waking up from a coma after nearly dying." Bella smiled, but suddenly frowned.

"What about Renee?" she asked. Tony sighed.

"She disappeared, not a trace." Bella squeezed her eyes shut. She felt Tony's hand on hers.

"I'm so sorry Bella." He said. Bella sighed.

"How did you find me?" she asked.

"Well, between two science geniuses, and two master assassins, hacking into the security footage of the city wasn't too hard."

"Remind me to hug them later." Bella said, attempting to sit up, and wincing. "What's the damage, by the way?"

"Five ribs damaged. Two cracked, three broken, several lacerations, and a broken nose. You also have quite the vibrant shiner there; I didn't think bruises could _get_ that purple."

"Lovely." Bella croaked. "So, when can I get the hell outta here?"

"They want to keep you overnight, so tomorrow. The rest of the family's out in the waiting room, want me to bring 'em in?" at Bella's nod, Tony left.

* * *

**(Steve POV)**

Steve sat in his room, his drawing pad in his lap. He was drawing absently, his mind on other matters. Last night he had danced with a girl for the first time in his life, and somehow, deep down, he knew that he had found the right partner. He remembered Bella, looking so beautiful, the two of them moving gracefully, as one. Part of his mind offered it's two cents, saying that they had looked better together than any other partner she had had. But she had looked very comfortable with Johnny Storm, he remembered.

He and Johnny got along fairly well, but the fact that they looked so similar always threw him off a bit. Johnny loved it, always saying how attractive Steve was, even to the point of flirting with him. Which meant he knew what Johnny looked like when he was flirting. And he had definitely been flirting with Bella.

He glanced down at the pad, and started. There she was, looking like an angel in the white dress that she had worn out. Everything was perfect. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail at the base of her neck, strands falling loose here and there. Her head and eyes were downcast shyly, the way she had done when he told her that she was beautiful, her mouth curved into the slightest hint of a smile. He felt a smile on his own face. The right partner indeed.

"Steve, you better get up here." Natasha's voice rang out over the intercom. "Better hurry. It's Bella."

Within minutes of undergoing his transformation, he had chased a Nazi spy all the way to the docks. He thought he was running as fast as he possibly could then, but he was wrong. He was now running as fast as he possibly could, and was in the living room a mere ten seconds after Natasha's words had faded.

"What happened?" He demanded the moment he entered the room. Tony was there, and he could tell that he was worried out of his mind.

"Bella went to the bathroom, and never came back; security found traces of blood on the floor, and Bella was nowhere to be found."

"Do you think it was Renee?" He asked urgently. If it wasn't, that was a good thing, that meant that she was still alive, if it _was_ Bella's mother, then she might already be dead.

"Of course it was fucking Renee!" Tony yelled.

"Tony, calm down, we'll find her." Steve promised. Tony took a deep breath, and looked at him.

"Alright Star Spangled Man, what's the plan?

* * *

In all the time he has known Tony, Bruce, Natasha and Clint, he has never seen them work so intently and urgently. Only ten seconds after starting their task, they were into the security tapes. It _was _Renee that had taken Bella, they had seen her dragging their lost family member across the blacktop, and into a car. They followed the car from camera to camera, before they finally found the destination, an old abandoned warehouse. They were suited up and out the door before you could say rescue.

Tony, Bruce and Thor crashed through the roof, while he, Natasha and Clint broke down the door. There was Bella, her angelic white dress now red. Renee was nowhere to be seen, having fled what must have been mere minutes ago. Bella was still conscious, and his blue eyes met her brown.

"Bella!" he shouted, panicked, and rushed to her side. She had fainted in the time it took to get to her, the obvious blood loss getting to her. Everyone was in a circle around them. And he quickly lifted her into his arms. As much as he wanted to simply take Bella and run, he needed to command his team, and he wasn't the fastest.

"Tony, take Bella to the Hospital, SHIELD, they have the best doctors." He ordered. He placed her into her godfather's metal arms, and he was off at once.

"Natasha, Clint, what do you make of this mess?" He gestured to the scene, maybe they could give them some insight into what had happened. The two looked all throughout the warehouse.

"Bella was tied to the chair." Natasha said, gesturing to the overturned chair. "And judging by the blood on them, Renee had cut Bella, before she tricked her into cutting her loose by moving. They fought, both of them inflicting damage, before Bella managed to get a hold of the knife." She gestured to the knife. "Bella won, and started to make her way to the door, and that's when we arrived." Steve nodded. "You two try to track down Renee, if you find her, bring her in. I want her alive, so she can do her time, understood?" The pair nodded unhappily, and walked out of the side door Renee had used.

They stopped by the Tower, to pick up some things. By the looks of Bella's injuries, they would be staying at SHIELD HQ for a while, and there was no way they would be leaving her alone there. She was family, and they wouldn't leave her. _He_ wasn't going to leave her. She was his partner; he was in love with her.

**Steve POV**

They had spent a day, a whole 24 hours in the waiting room while Bella was in intensive care. She had the best doctors and medicine available; no one could refuse 'America's Golden Boy' as Tony had once called him. At the end of that day; the day that went on for forever, they were told that she would make it, but was in a medically induced coma, and would stay so for a few more days.

They were allowed to see her then. They tried to only let Tony in, but again, no one seemed able to refuse them. Maybe it was Tony threatening to take their coffee machines offline for a month, maybe it was Natasha's 'I can kill you in 500 different ways with my pinky' glare, but no one stopped them other than that one time.

Bella looked like a ghost. Her face lacked any color whatsoever, with the exception of the bright purple bruise that circled her eye, and spread to her nose. He would have thought she was dead, if it had not been for the heart monitor. The steady beeping was proof that she was alive, so he couldn't find it in him to be annoyed by the constant repetitive sound. Tony immediately went to Bella's side, and he wanted to do so himself, but was unsure. A small shove pushed him forward, and he glanced back to see an all too innocent expression on Clint's face. He rolled his eyes good naturedly, and sat a Bella's other side. Bruce and Thor sat next to Tony, while Clint and Natasha sat with him. Both he and Tony each held one of Bella's hands, and they waited. They waited for two days, taking shifts, so Bella would never be alone.

The second day Bella was due to wake up, and SHIELD put their foot down. Too many people would disorient Bella, and she would be disoriented enough without them adding extra. Tony stayed with her, and promised to get them as soon as Bella was functioning. The time dragged by, but finally; _finally_, he came to get them.

Bella was propped up on a gigantic pile of pillows, and smiling weakly at them all. Her bruise was still there, but had shrunk considerably, and color had lightly returned to her face.

"Bella." He said, relieved at seeing her awake again.

"Good to see you awake Sleeping Beauty." Clint said with a grin, walking forward and pulling her into a gentle hug, an expression previously only seen around little children (which Clint secretly doted on) on his face.

"Good to be awake." She said in a quiet, raspy voice. "Anyone willing to be my Prince Charming and get me a glass of water?" he immediately jumped up, and got her what she needed. She smiled at him when he handed her the small paper cup.

"My hero." She teased, and drank the water greedily, sighing in relief when she was done.

"So, three days." She said when she was done. "I miss anything good? Any world domination plans foiled, little old ladies helped across the street, or kittens saved from the big bad trees?" She was teasing them, a sure sign that she was feeling better, the unseen tension of the past three days evaporating from them in waves.

"The kittens could wait." Natasha said quietly, a look that was almost tender on her face. "We stayed with you."

The surprise on Bella's face was heartbreaking, and not just to Steve. All of them moved closer, until they were in a tight circle around her bed. Thor moved first, wrapping his arms around Bella in the gentlest hug they had ever witnessed Thor give. Suddenly all of them had their arms around Bella, giving her the group hug of her life. When they parted, Bella was smiling brightly, looking at them all with such love clear on her face that all of them just wanted to hug her again. So they did. They eventually let her go, and spotted a mischievous glint in her eyes that told them that trouble was on the way.

"So, any chance that the super highly trained group of superheroes can bust me out of this Hospital?"

* * *

**Bella POV**

_"Alert. Security breach, floor 1, section 5."_

Bella was being pushed along in a wheelchair, faster than you could believe. She was laughing in delight, enjoying the feel of the wind rushing around her, and waving happily to the astounded SHIELD agents, staring at what must have been one of the most peculiar sights that they had ever seen.

Tony Stark, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, the Norse god of thunder, Dr. Bruce Banner, Captain America, and two of their own agents, and some brunette girl in a wheelchair, being pushed by aforementioned Captain, and all of them cackling and giggling like fools.

When the alarm went off, they tried to stop them, but they managed to evade them all. They reached a locked door, but Natasha got them through easily.

They were in the parking lot, where one of Tony's many cars waited for them. Bella was placed gently in the passenger seat. Bruce, Nat and Steve crowded into the back seat, and Thor grabbed Clint and flew away. with a screeching of tires, they were gone, and headed back home, all of them laughing like madmen. No one had noticed Clint disappearing momentarily while they escaped, but, when the mess at SHIELD was cleared up, the most certainly knew. How you may ask? Simple.

Only one person had the agility, stealth and childish nature to break into Nick Fury's office and spray paint 'Livin La Vida Loca' onto his wall.

Renee stumbled down the alleyway, clutching at the bricks of the wall to hold her up. She was desperately trying to staunch the blood pouring from the wound her _daughter_ had given her, the little bitch. Avoiding the Avengers sent after her was almost too easy; she couldn't believe that they were trusted with the safety of a dog, let alone _humanity_.

Her strength failed, and she fell to the ground, blood pooling on the concrete around her. A cold laugh rang out, and she snapped her head to the mouth of the alleyway, where a tall, feminine figure stood, her back to the light, face lost in shadow.

"How weak you humans are, it's pathetic." The shadowed female said.

"What the hell do you mean, _humans_?" Renee snapped at the woman. "What do you want?" the woman smiled, showing teeth, brightly white.

"We both want the same thing: The death of Isabella Stark." Renee perked up at that. At least, as much as someone with a fatal wound bleeding out can perk up.

"I'm listening." The woman smirked.

"How do you think you would take to immortality Renee? I can offer that as well. What would you give for that?"

"Anything." Renee said at once. "I'd burn myself alive for that." An evil glint lit up the shadowed woman's eyes.

"Good, because burn you shall." And with that, the woman stepped into the light, to reveal fiery red hair, and bloody scarlet eyes.

"I am Victoria, and you…" She let out a cold laugh. "You're my new pet."

Unbeknownst to Victoria, there was a third person in the alleyway. A tall man, pale enough to be a Vampire, but with burning emerald eyes watched them intently, a long, pointed staff in his hand, glowing with a blazing blue light. He smirked to himself as Victoria carried the human away. How dull and stupid Midgardians could be, human or not, could they not tell that he was there? All the better, now he had the upper hand. He may not be overly fond of the Avengers, but he would protect the life of the innocent that was in the Avenger's care, he owed it to the universe at large.

Now, to recruit.

* * *

Alice sighed as she ran. She was leaving, never to return. The rest of the family had been alienating her for a while now, even Jasper, her 'Mate'! Well, once upon a time, they were mates, not anymore, they had been distant for a while now, ever since Bella's tragic birthday. He, like the rest of the family, blamed her for not seeing the paper cut coming.

_Bella_, her sister, her poor sister that she had manipulated, had forced to do things against her will, the now all too familiar guilt again washing up inside of her. She had been in the dark, but now saw the light, Edward's influence gone.

She wanted to apologize, and was going to when she and the Avengers had come, but she hadn't got the chance. And then of course she had that vision, and everything had gone to shit.

_Edward_, No one would believe that the family's little Golden Boy was a manipulative, sadistic bastard. He wanted Bella, for her body, and for the sweet nectar of her blood, and the hidden power she possessed. At first Rosalie had been on her side, acting mean to Bella to drive her away from Edward, to keep her safe, but she was inevitably converted to Edward's dark gift, Alice falling into his web soon after.

He wasn't the telepath that he had led the other's to believe, he got into your head, poisoned your mind. And if he couldn't get into your mind, like with Bella, there was also the sweet poison of his voice, which she had unfortunately fallen into. Trapped, a lamb against a lion, utterly helpless.

_Not anymore._ Pride at her sister's strength and skill in the battle welled up within her. It had taken hours for Edward and Rosalie to heal. She was healing from Edward's poison, and becoming the woman she was supposed to be, in mind and body. The Avengers were helping her, especially Steven Rogers. A smile played across Alice's lips as she ran, that vision, the one Edward had seen, the one of Bella and Steve, falling in love. Of Bella, strong and proud, her power at it's height. Everything that Edward had been working to keep from being. Everything that Alice had been forced into helping him stop. Another shudder ran through her, before she brushed it off and continued running, she was free now, and she was going to make amends, and that's what mattered.

"Not many can escape a Silvertongue's grasp, consider me impressed." A soft voice carried out. Alice stopped abruptly, and saw a man, standing in her path, a man that had not been there a second before. He was tall, and his bright green eyes bore through her, into her soul, if she even had one now.

"Who are you?" She asked cautiously. He had a similar air about him that Edward did, that calm aura that drew you in, but it had no affect on Alice now, she was disenchanted, and her gift was working clearly now, she saw things for what they were now, something that Edward had blocked.

"I am a Silvertongue as well, like the wretched boy that you flee from." He said. "I am Loki, of Asgard." Alice immediately took an instinctual step back at his comparison to Edward.

"There is nothing for you to fear from me, Vampyre." Loki said calmly. "That is the reason I have come to find you, you are disenchanted, you cannot be fooled, I have no power over you, your power has grown to it's fullest, you sit in the dark no longer."

"Why do you need me in particular?" Alice asked, still cautious. She knew that Loki was supposed to be the God of Lies, but she felt deep down that what he was saying was true. That didn't mean that she trusted him though, she had already been burned by a 'Silvertongue', and she wasn't going to let it happen again.

"We have the mutual wellbeing of one particular human as our focus." Loki said in his collected voice. "One particularly _gifted_ human."

"Bella." Alice gasped. "She's in danger." Loki nodded.

"The female called Victoria, she has been gathering allies, and plans to kill Isabella Stark, I wish for that _not_ to happen."

"Why?" Alice asked, still weary. "What's Bella to you?" Loki sighed.

"An innocent girl who has suffered because of my mistakes. To borrow a phrase from a… 'friend' of mine, _I have red in my ledger_, and I would very much like to rectify that." He said, and then paused, looking at her. "Another thing we have in common, I believe." Alice bit her lip, and finally, nodded.

"Alright, what's the plan?" Loki gave her a small smile.

"Victoria gathers evil around her, we shall do the opposite. We shall gather the good. Tell me, did Isabella have any close friends that you know of?"

* * *

**(Bella POV)**

When they got home, Thor and Clint were already there, oh the perks of flying. Clint was being strange –I mean, stranger than usual–, he had music blaring, and was dancing around the room, singing.

_"Upside, inside out! Livin' La Vida Loca!"_ they all looked to Thor, who was staring at Barton, perplexed.

"He began his chanting when we arrived, and not ceased since." He told them concerned. They all tried to quiet Clint, but it was impossible. Tony had cut the music, but Clint had continued to sing, not a care in the world. They rolled their eyes, and went about their business, settling Bella on her and Steve's couch, the latter never leaving her side for a second, and making sure she was comfortable, the caring and concerned expression on his face making Bella fall just that deeper for the blonde.

_"She will wear you out! Livin' La Vida Loca!" _Clint sang.

"I'll order pizza." Tony said, and made to walk away.

_"Livin' La Vida Loca!Livin' La Vida Loca! Livin' La Vida... _**_Loki_**_!"_


	11. Team Stella

_"Did Isabella have any close friends that you know of?" _Alice didn't hesitate, she knew, without a shadow of a doubt who was needed, she could feel it, like instinct.

"Angela Webber." Loki nodded, and extended his arm to her.

"To Forks then, shall we?" Alice bit her lip, internally sighing.

_"For Bella." _She thought firmly to herself. "That's not all, there's a pack of shape shifters, their all close to Bella, they'll come to help her, without hesitating." Loki nodded again, giving her an approving look, like he knew that she had been tempted to not speak of the shifters that were repulsive in every way to her. he offered his arm again, and this time Alice nodded, taking the Asgardian's arm, and the two of them vanished, their disappearance witnessed only by an overly curious pair of squirrels.

Angela was easy to find. And, surprisingly, even easier to convince. Alice had told her the truth, the whole truth, and she had accepted it without batting an eye. At the surprised comment Alice had made, she smiled her soft, kind smile.

"I was told about Vampires months ago Alice." She said quietly. "Seth imprinted on my little sister, shortly after Bella left. He told me about Renee too, and I want to help."

If anything, the wolves were even easier to recruit, all she had to do was say 'danger' and 'Bella' in the same sentence, and their bags were packed and they were ready to go, the Alpha's imprint Emily insisting that she go too, bringing their baby girl with them.

Loki was going to teleport them all straight there, but a vision of the reaction had her stop him short. It was decided that they would drive to New York, while Loki went ahead to smooth the way for them.

_"Good luck Loki." _Alice thought to herself once he left. _"You'll need it, they're not going to be easy to sway, _you_ certainly have your work cut out for you." _imagine her shock when Loki _spoke back_.

_**"Do not fret, my fair Alice, if I know my brother, then it will be easier than anticipated." **_He said into her mind**_. "I owe Isabella Stark much, and my brother will see that."_**

* * *

_"Livin' La Vida... __**Loki**__!"_

Everyone swung around, immediately taking defensive positions, Steve once again placing himself between Bella and the looming threat. Loki stood in the exact center of the room, and had his hands raised in a submissive gesture.

"I mean no harm Avengers." Loki said quietly. Almost everyone in the room was glaring at Loki, everyone but Thor… and Tony? Tony looked sympathetic, when he looked at Loki, like he understood him, that was unexpected.

"Like hell you don't." Clint snarled. "Get out of our house."

"I wish to help."

"Help yourself you mean, what is it this time? The world, or the universe?" Natasha said coldly. Loki turned to Thor, still calm, but with an underlying urgency.

"I owe a debt." Thor, who was already calm himself, sat down, and looked at his brother expectantly.

"I thought as much brother, I have not seen you this agitated in over one hundred years. What must you do?" he suddenly remembered the rest of them, and turned to them, more serious than they had ever seen happy go lucky Thor.

"My friends, Loki means no harm, I give my word on that." Thor said, and something about how serious he was, made the Avengers believe him. They sat down too, but were ridged, all of them keeping a sharp eye out, ready to leap into action at any moment. Steve put a protective arm around Bella, his eyes never leaving Loki, who sat down himself, and looked at Bella, speaking to her.

"You may not know the role I have played in your life, Isabella Maria Stark, but you have suffered much, because of a mistake that I made." Loki said to her. "I have come here because of you Isabella. You are good, one of the few true innocents in this black realm, one of the few that make Midgard a place to consider saving, and I, albeit decades before you were born, have made a mistake that has nearly ruined you, I wish to make amends for that mistake."

"How do you propose you do that brother?" Thor asked. Before, when she had learned of Thor's past, she could never believe her teddy bear of a big brother was going to be a king, but now she understood, there was seriousness to him, their was kingliness, there was greatness in her almost brother.

"I have already done some." Loki said. "The female Vampyre Victoria seeks her death, and will stop at nothing to achieve her goal."

"So you killed her?" Tony asked. Loki shook his head seriously.

"I could not as of yet, for…"

"So, you're going to 'repay your debt' –which I think is bullshit, by the way. – by telling us that there's a problem, oh, great job!" Clint said sharply. Loki's eyes glinted dangerously.

"Do not mock me Barton, I have not finished."

"Oh, I'll do whatever I want Rudolph, you put your twisted mind control juju on me, you have no right…" Clint began hotly.

"Barton, this is important, if Bella's in danger, we need to let Loki finish." Steve cut him off quickly. Loki nodded thankfully to Steve.

"As I was saying, I could not, for she has started the creation of an army of her kind, I could not take her alone." He said. "I have, however, started to amass a group to counter the army she creates. Victoria created an army, and so I shall giver her a war." Loki's voice was icy cold, like the wind of a winter blizzard, and his eyes blazed like emerald fire.

"Who is in your battalion brother?" Thor asked cautiously. Loki seemed to calm himself down, and looked at his brother.

"No one young Isabella does not know. The Vampyre has chosen her lieutenant, and I have chosen mine accordingly, she brings other Vampyres, I bring shifters to strike them down, all strong, and all unfailingly loyal to Isabella."

"The Quileutes." Bella realized with a gasp. "They're leaving the Rez?" Loki nodded.

"My lieutenant is travelling here with them as we speak now." He told the group.

"Who's you're lieutenant?" Natasha asked warily. Loki seemed to straighten even more then the ridged stance he had already been in.

"The female previously known as Alice Cullen, who is no longer a part of that Coven."

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled.

"You better explain quick, Reindeer Games, or else I'll be forced to kill you." Tony said angrily. Loki nodded, a small, almost unseen smirk flitting through his face. Almost unseen, but clear as day to Bella.

"It would be my pleasure Mr. Stark, the simple version would be: The boy you know as Edward Cullen, has a very unique gift. He has the ability of the Silvertongue, he can manipulate your very thoughts, and he can bend you to his will. More than that, but the words that fall from his mouth entrance you, and can manipulate you almost as efficiently as his thoughts can." Realization fell flashed into being on Thor's face, and Loki nodded at his brother gravely.

"What does Alice have to do with this?" Bella asked. "Don't tell me that she's a Silvertongue too!" Loki shook his head.

"A Disenchanted?" Thor asked, his shock deepening.

"Alice is like you, Isabella, but the one you call Edward stunted her gift early enough that he was just able to access her thoughts. Over time her power grew, and she has now broken free of his control. She regrets her actions whilst under his control, and seeks redemption, and to protect the one she has grown to think of as a sister. She cares for you greatly Isabella, and wishes to… what is the phrase? Make it up to you." Bella screwed her eyes shut, and sighed.

"If she's different… I'll see her." She managed to get out. This was reopening a painful chapter of her life, one that she had previously closed for good. She wasn't exactly happy about that, if she was honest.

"There is more." Loki stated, and Bella groaned.

"I'm probably going to regret this, but what?"

"The new lieutenant of Victoria your mother, Renee."

"I was right, regret city, here I come." Bella moaned, burying her face in her hands. Warm arms wrapped around her, and she felt the world shifting.

"I'll take you to your room." Steve's voice told her. It wasn't an order, it was a suggestion, and that was one of the things she loved best about Steve, he never took her options away from her, she was free to make her own choices. She nodded thankfully, and made the most of the ride. She was so tired, so mentally weak. First her mother comes back, now Victoria's made her return, then she finds out that she has to face Alice again, and now her mother and Victoria are supposedly working together? Not to mention her last run in with her mother left her seriously injured! Honestly, she's lucky she hasn't collapsed yet.

Suddenly she was on her soft bed, and Steve, her stronghold, was making to leave. She grabbed him, desperate.

"Don't leave." She all but begged, her voice sounding broken and pathetic. How pitiful, Bella thought, Steve could never love someone so weak. Steve seemed to hesitate for a moment, before crawling up into the giant sized bed with her, and pulling her back into his arms. He started running his fingers through her hair softly, and she laid her head on his chest, using it as a pillow.

"Don't leave." She said again weakly as she closed her eyes, sleep taking her. just as she was crossing into the land of dreams, she thought she heard Steve whisper.

"I'll never leave you Bella, I swear, whenever you need me, I'll be there." And later, in what must have been one of her dreams, she felt phantom lips on her forehead, and another, even fainter whisper.

"Sleep well, my love."

Bella woke in a cold sweat, her breath shaky. Her nightmares were coming back, stronger and scarier than ever. Tears were just starting to leak out, when she felt familiar arms wrap around her waist, and start running through her hair.

"Shhhhh." Steve soothed, stroking her head gently. "It was a dream Bella, it'll be ok, go back to sleep, I'll still be here." Bella sighed, snuggling further into Steve's embrace, and closed her eyes again.

_No more talk of darkness  
Forget these wide-eyed fears  
I'm here, nothing can harm you  
My words will warm and calm you._

She officially woke up at 7:00, having slept, somewhat fitfully through the night. Steve had been there every time she woke from a nightmare, cradling her in his arms and soothing her back to sleep. She was still in his arms in fact, and couldn't find it in her to move, Steve looked so content, and for a moment, Bella let herself imagine that it was having her in his arms that made him look so happy. The quiet moment was shattered quickly, Steve, having sensed that someone was looking at him, had woken up. He blinked blearily for a moment, before brown met bright blue. Steve smiled up at her, bringing a hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey." He said. She smiled softly back at him.

"Hey."

"How did you sleep?"

"Better than I would have if you hadn't been there, thank you, Steve."

"Not a problem Bella, I get nightmare's too, I didn't mind. In fact having someone there with me was…comforting."

"PTSD?"

"Yeah, that's what the SHIELD psychologist said, that it's 'perfectly natural' and whatnot." Bella and Steve had been leaning in throughout their conversation, closer and closer, until they were a hair's breadth from their lips meeting, and then…

"Bells!" the door banged open, and Bella was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Jake!" Bella gasped. "Choking, not breathing."

"Oh, right, sorry." He gently placed her down on the bed, and she winced, her hurt ribs burning white hot with pain. Jacob Black, one of Bella's best friends in the entire world, stood by her bed, mercifully fully clothed in what must have been the first time in his life. Suddenly Jacob seemed to become aware of Steve presence.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. "Get out of my sister's bed!" Bella's eyes widened in horror when the realization of what this must have looked like to Jake.

"No Jake we didn't…. you know!" Bella practically screamed. "Steve's my friend!" No matter how much she wanted otherwise. Jake raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"You're letting your friends sleep in your bed now?" Bella blushed.

"We're close friends."

"_Special _friends?" Bella blushed deeper.

"No Jake! We're…uh…we're just really good friends." Jacob laughed then, and Bella realized that he had been teasing her.

"Oh, really good friends is it? Have I been replaced? I thought we were BFFs Bells, harsh, very harsh." Bella smiled.

"Well, since my supposed BFF hasn't been answering my calls, he got replaced. It's survival of the fittest Jake, get with the program." She said sweetly, and laughed. "Also, I'd hit you for embarrassing me like that, but my arm still hurts, because, you know, my mother attacked me." Jake's teasing expression quickly turned to one of horror.

"Oh, crap! I forgot about that! I didn't hurt you, did I Bells?"

"Only a little Jake, not much more than usual." Jake smiled and relaxed.

"Good." He said. "And as for the hitting thing…you couldn't even hurt me if you were at your strongest pale face." Bella smiled at him, sickeningly sweet, and Jake squirmed uncomfortably.

"You might be surprised Jake. But I don't even need to do it myself now, I've got Avengers." She turned quickly to Steve. "Care to avenge my embarrassment?" Steve looked at her like she was a whole new person for a moment, before an exited grin crept onto his face.

"Hey Jacob, would you like to spar?"

* * *

Jacob scowled to himself as he walked away from the training room. They didn't call the serum they gave Steve Rogers 'super' for nothing. The man was even harder to beat than a leech, and that was saying something. Maybe it was the high intensity combat training he had. But that didn't matter right now, he had a mission. He had met Tony Stark before, years ago, and had liked the guy, he was hilarious. He also knew about Bella and Steve's feelings for each other. I mean, come on, it was obvious! And lastly, he could tell that Tony was playing matchmaker between them, or else he wouldn't have let Steve sleep in Bella's room.

"Hah, see Leah? I'm not an observant idiot!" He muttered under his breath. He finally found Tony then, who was talking in low voices to… who was that again? Something about a bird? Eagleman?

"…Spent the entire night in her room and _nothing_! We've got to step up our game Clint, we have to compensate for Mr. I'm so polite and well mannered I won't kiss the girl I love even though she's almost begging for it."

"Not to mention Bella's self doubt." Jacob said, making his presence known. "Just the guy I wanted to see. I figured you would be trying to get those two together. I'm surprised that you've got someone else with you though." They both jumped, and relaxed slightly when they saw him.

"Please." Eagleman scoffed. "Everyone who sees them together is rooting for them to get together, it's just that there are too few of us willing to work toward that goal. We've thankfully recently added the Fantastic Four to Team Stella, so we're not as alone as before." Jacob took a deep breath.

"That's what I came to find you for." He said. "I want in."

"Splendid!" Tony said, leaping up to shake Jake's hand. "I knew I liked you. We have official meetings every Wednesday, in varying places so Nat and Pepper don't find us, and we call emergency meetings sometimes when something big has happened. We have specialized radios for that, and T-shirts are on the way." He eyed Jake's chest, like he was mentally measuring it.

"We might have to get you a specialized size."

* * *

Bella and Steve walked out of the training room, where Jacob had just left, after getting thoroughly beaten.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Bella giggled, the feeling of Steve's hand on hers making her a little bit giddy. He chuckled.

"Yeah, I haven't had this much fun since…well, since before Captain America." He admitted.

"You need to have more fun." Bella told him seriously. "I was like that before; all work, no play, and things didn't end well." Steve sighed, bringing an arm around her in a sideways hug. She leaned heavily into him, enjoying his solid warmth. It may have been that, giving her courage, or the fact that she now had the perfect excuse, but the next words tumbled out of her.

"Wannagodosomething?" Nice work Bella. She thought to herself sarcastically, mentally face palming. Steve however, looked untroubled.

"You do know we should be working to get the Wolves and Alice settled, right?" he asked with a small, indulgent smile, and Bella nodded, one of her shy smiles creeping onto her face.

"Yeah, it's just, there's so much going on, it's giving me cabin fever." That was true, Bella did feel the overwhelming need to get out, everything just seemed to be crowding over her, suffocating her, making her skin crawl. Steve nodded understandingly.

"Alright, we can play hooky, what do you want to do?" Bella's face lit up, and she threw her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you!" she said excitedly, and, on impulse, kissed him on the cheek. They both froze, staring at each other in shock.

"I…uh, I better go shower before we go." Steve said, stuttering. Bella nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, you should." Then she realized what she just said. "Not that you smell or anything! Well, actually you kinda do, and you're a bit sweaty, but I don't mind, it's fine! And… well. I'm just gonna…go now…get ready…bye." She ran then, all the way back to her room, and collapsed on her bed.

"Idiot." She admonished herself, and got up to get ready.

One hour, and tons of makeup, clothing choosing, and bugging Nat and Pepper later, she was ready. The two older women were still glancing at each other knowingly, despite Bella very clearly telling them that this was _not a date_. Yeah, so, they might have figured out that Bella was in love with Steve, but they were the ones that spent the most time with her, even more so than Steve. At least they were supportive, and were helping her, which was more than she expected really. She was wearing jean shorts, and a loose dark blue tank top with an American flag on it, and sandals. Her hair hung in beachy waves, and her skin looked flawless after the foundation that Pepper had put on her, and she put simple white eyeshadow on, and a super thin line of eyeliner, add a light coat of mascara and peach colored lipgloss, and her makeup was done. She slipped on a stack of bracelets, and grabbed yet another pair of sunglasses, Aviators this time, and ran out the door, running to meet Steve.


	12. America's Sweetheart

_"I'm just gonna…go now…get ready…bye."_ She was really a bad influence on him, but in a good way, in a way no one had since Bucky. Bella ran out of the room then, and Steve sighed in relief, that last bit had been incredibly awkward, and his cheek still tingled from where her lips had pressed against it. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed again, then froze. He and Bella were going to be alone together. Really alone. No one might walk into her room, they weren't in a room of crowded people, it would be her, and him. And he was currently drenched in sweat. He broke off at a run, heading for the one male friend that wouldn't tease him, and wasn't a Norse god.

**"Bruce!"**

Bruce was amused, yes, but he didn't tease, which he was forever thankful for. There were a few minutes though, that seemed to drag on forever. As Steve was pulling on one of his many simple white t-shirts, Bruce asked him something.

"Steve, answer me honestly, are you in love with Bella?" he asked seriously. Steve froze, not looking at Bruce, and answered him.

"Yes." Bruce nodded, and smiled.

"Good, now come on, she's probably going to be done any minute now." He said, and walked with him down to the lobby of S.I. Bella thankfully wasn't there yet, so he had time to compose himself. He paced for about ten minutes, Bruce looking on amusedly, before Bella turned up, Pepper and Natasha on her heels. The moment they locked eyes, a bright smile broke out on her face.

"Steve!" she exclaimed, as if happy that he even showed up. She walked up to him, and looked at his clothes. "Nice." Steve suddenly noticed what she was wearing, a blue tank top loosely hanging off of her peaches and cream skin, showing off her smooth back, and an American Flag across the chest.

"You too." He said, "You look… amazing." Her smile softened, and a hopeful light shone in her eyes.

"Really?" She asked quietly, and he nodded earnestly.

"You're absolutely beautiful Bella." He told her with a smile. "But we probably should head out, if we want to get anywhere before the day ends. She smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Alright, lets go." She said, and walked out the door with him.

* * *

Bruce, Pepper and Natasha looked at the pair in equal parts amusement and frustration. Bella and Steve had been dancing around for months now, it was summer for Pete's sake! Natasha looked at her two companions.

"We have to do something about this." She said to them, once the two lovebirds had walked out the door. "It's driving me crazy.

"Hear hear." Pepper and Bruce said at once.

"So, are we joining the team that Tony and Clint put together?" Bruce asked them curiously. The redheads snorted at the mention of 'Team Stella' as they had stupidly named themselves. And the two idiots _still _thought that they didn't know!

"No, but we still need to know what they're doing, so you still need to play double agent for a bit." Nat said to him. "No, those idiots can do the dirty work, this is going to require some skill." Nat whipped out her phone and dialed a number.

"Who are you calling?" Pepper asked her. Nat smiled.

"Backup, you handle double agent 2, ok?" Pepper nodded and pulled out her phone as well.

"Am I missing something?" Bruce asked confusedly. The women glanced at each other and grinned.

"Salt and Pepper are on the case, Bruce." Natasha said with a smirk.

"Those two are going to be together before the end of Summer." Pepper added airily. "Just be prepared for some Fireworks along the way."

**"ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"** came a screech. Everyone was gathered in the living room, when Clint ran in, and, from head to toe, was neon green, even his hair. All of his clothes were gone, even his towel. Instead, was a bright pink tutu, and a shirt that said "I'm with Stupid" with an arrow pointing at himself.

"Who did this?" Clint yelled, pointing dramatically to himself. "Was it you Stark?" Tony was laughing his ass off, but shook his head.

"That would be compliments of one Captain Rogers, Hawkass." Tony said, struggling to control his wild laughter. Loki, who was currently beating Thor at chess using underhanded tactics looked up, and quirked an eyebrow.

"My compliments to the Captain." He said silkily. "He has done quite well, for an old standby."

"He's gonna pay for this!" Hawkeye said, dramatically pointing at the heavens. "He shall PAYYYYYYYYYYYY!" he yelled, charging out of the room. Natasha, who just came in from a conversation with double agent 2, who had finally called back, looked coolly on as Clint was ranting, and promptly tripped him on the way out of the door. The roaring laughter of the group followed Clint, all the way back to his rooms.

And thus the incident of truth or dare was handled, and the prank war began.

After Clint's exit, Natasha made her way over to Pepper.

"Everything's been taken care of." She whispered. "The Plan is in place, he's gonna watch them and intercept."

"When?" Pepper asked.

"Today. On their date, we figured it was the best time."

"Wow, he's very eager."

"He really is just _so_ much like Tony." Pepper nodded, a small smile on her face at the thought of her childish boyfriend.

"Yeah, just like Tony."

* * *

"Come _on_ Steve!" Bella said excitedly, attempting to drag him down the street. He had absolutely no idea where they were going, but Bella apparently had a plan. He hoped. They had taken the train, and he knew they were near Central Park, but other than that, he was pretty much lost. Suddenly Bella stopped, and he nearly careened into her, but managed to grind to a halt just in time. Bella pointed triumphantly at the large building in front of them, and he craned his neck to see where Bella had taken them. She had been practically bouncing with excitement, so he knew that he would probably like it. That was the sort of person Bella was, she got her own pleasure from seeing other people happy, and that was one of the things he loved most about her.

And he was right, the moment he saw where she had taken them; he knew that she had picked this spot just for him. It wasn't a WWII memorial, like some people may have taken him to. No, this showed just how much she knew him, and how much she tried to share in his interests.

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Bella said, smiling up at him, before her expression suddenly became a little concerned. "That ok?" Steve smiled warmly at her.

"This is great Bella, thank you." He said sincerely, touched that she was so concerned. Her happy smile returned, and Steve mentally resolved to keep that expression on her face, no matter what it took.

The museum was fantastic, and the two spent hours looking around. it was early evening by the time they finished, and they were both so ravenous that they stopped to get their dinner from one of the many hot dog stands in Central Park. Of course, for Bella, ravenous meant that she ate about four hot dogs, for Steve, it meant that he ate about twenty.

"Jeez Steve," Bella laughed. "Breathe in between bites, for crying out loud, are you even chewing?" Steve shrugged, and kept eating. They sat on one of the benches when he was done, and talked animatedly about the works of art they had recently seen.

"I was almost looking for a Van Gough painting of the TARDIS exploding." Bella laughed. "I'm such a dork." At Steve's confused look, she bolted upright.

"You've never seen Doctor Who, have you?" Steve shook his head. Bella's eyes went wide.

"You've been in charge of my modern media intake." Steve reminded her.

"That makes it even worse!" Bella exclaimed. "I've completely failed you!" Steve looked at her, amused.

"I take it you like this show?" he asked with a smile.

"Like it? Try completely fangirling about it!" That's it, we're going home, and I'm showing you the wonders of British TV. Steve laughed outright.

"It's official, I'm sure that you're in any fandom worth being in." He said. Bella smiled and laughed too.

"I probably am, just don't get me started on Sherlock versus Elementary, I'll be ranting for hours."

They walked back to the subway, and stood, as it was pretty crowded. Well, they had seats at first, but an elderly couple that walked on last minute had them jumping out of their seats, to offer them to their elders. _That's_ how they ended up standing, clinging to the bars for their lives. The train got up to speed, and balanced itself out enough for them to let go, which they did with a sigh on relief. Suddenly Steve's stomach growled, causing Bella to ring out with laughter.

"Seriously?" she exclaimed, nearly choking herself with her giggles. "You _literally _just ate!"

"It's not my fault!" Steve defended, looking slightly embarrassed. "It's the serum, I swear!" Bella smiled softly at him, and he smiled back. Now, practically everyone else on the train could see how much they were in love, but the two idiots were still annoyingly blind to the other's feelings, which none saw but the elderly couple they had given their seats to, and one man, who sat at the very back of the car, looking on with a small smile. He suddenly looked down, slightly ashamed of what he was going to do, how could he try to form a wedge between them? But, he trusted the two redheads that put him on this case. They said it would work, so work it will, and he will play his part in it without a single flaw. He watched as Steve steadied Bella as the train came to a stop, and took care of her in the large crowd, handing her off the train like they were in the 1800s. He followed, keeping a close eye and a safe distance until the perfect time came, the time where everything would truly be put into action. It wouldn't be long now, not even an hour, if Nat's information was correct.

After all, all Starks loved pizza.

When Steve and Bella finally exited the train, amongst about half of the other passengers, they immediately began looking for another place to eat, Bella teasing him the whole way.

"I think the person who came up with the phrase 'enough to feed an army' was mistranslated or something, it most like should have been, 'enough to feed a man _from_ the army'." Steve shook his head, with a pretend long suffering sigh. In reality he greatly enjoyed it when people teased him good naturedly, and Bella knew it. He rarely got it from anyone outside the family, and Clint and Tony both have no filters, Bruce was just not the type, and Pepper and Nat rarely did it, so Bella took up the role with a smile. She was just so at peace with Steve, she felt like she was truly herself around him.

It was strange, she was more fiery now, she could feel it. She was like a completely different person, but it felt like she should have been like this for a while now. She raked though her memories, trying to figure out when she might have felt something like the burning hot glow she felt inside of her now, but her mind was too preoccupied, she would have to think about it later, maybe take a small retreat to the library in Stark Towers. She loved it there, ever since she was a little girl, and now she had her office in there, much like Tony and Bruce's lab. She had made herself a little nook, not long after she moved in, and several things had gravitated in there over the time she spent at her home. Her favorite books, her laptop, and an old, fuzzy blanket that she's had since she was a baby, and finally, Steve's drawing things.

He often joined her now, where they would spend hours in comfortable silence, Steve drawing, or reading something form the surrounding shelves of books, and Bella reading, working on broadening her scientific knowledge even further, or just messing around on her laptop. It was nice, it was comfortable, it was… _stuff that couples did_. Bella felt her eyes go wide at that realization, and attempted to control her expression before Steve noticed. Thankfully, he was oblivious, looking around at the restaurants around them.

"So," He said, looking down at her with a smile. "What do you feel like eating?" Bella shrugged, her mind still troubled with yet more things. Honestly, would she ever catch a break?

"Come on." Steve goaded with a smile on his face. "Surely you want _something_? You can't just not care." Bella rolled her eyes.

"In case you don't remember Captain Forgetful, we just ate an hour ago. I… a particular restaurant suddenly caught Bella's eye, and made her all for more food.

"Pizza!" Steve glanced to the pizza parlor she was looking at, and laughed.

"What is it with you Starks and pizza?" He questioned, smiling. "You all are obsessed!"

"Who _doesn't _love pizza?" Bella asked skeptically, and then what he said fully sunk in. "Wait, _all_ of us? There are only two of us that I know about here." Steve sighed, and they started walking toward the pizza parlor.

"Howard Stark, Tony's dad, he was obsessed with pizza too. That and Fondue, for some strange reason." Bella froze.

"Seriously?" She started to laugh hysterically, remembering something Tony had said once. "Tony once told me that Howard had a friend who once confused Fondue with sex, that was you, wasn't it?" Steve turned bright red, looking at his shoes and muttering something under his breath. Bella gasped.

"It _was_ you, wasn't it?" Her insane laughter returned full force, and Bella started gasping for breath, she was laughing so hard.

"Oh, you are just so utterly precious! Can I keep you? I'm am _so_ keeping you." She gasped out, trying to resist the urge to kiss him and start to coo at his absurdity. This was bad, it was getting worse. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to keep him in the dark for much longer, and she would have ruined her relationship with her best friend. It wasn't her fault he was too perfect for words.

The parlor was still down the street a bit, so Bella and Steve walked, hand in hand, past street hawkers, hot dog carts, and even an open drugstore on the street. It was at that drugstore that Bella saw the most recent paper. She would have just walked right past it, if her own picture wasn't on the front page.

It was of her at her coming out party, soothing the Hulk and getting him away from the other partygoers, and underneath were several other photos of her going about her daily life. One was of her helping the elderly woman who lived down the street take out her garbage, which Bella did almost every week. Another was of her helping set up a Girl Scout booth that a man on a bicycle had just overturned, yet another showed her giving money to a homeless man who lived on the streets with his dog that she met last week. She hadn't known that the press was following her, and she hadn't given a second thought to helping these people, she had done it because it was her instinct to help, to nurture, to love without question. But apparently, she had been followed, and the Press had taken very kindly to her, if the day's main headline said anything about that. Steve looked to where she was staring, his eyes zeroing in on her photo, and promptly walked up to the man, and bought the paper. The looked warily at eachother and read the article.

**America's Sweetheart**

The newest member of the Stark family, eighteen year old Isabella Stark, may just be one of the most darling girls America has seen yet. Over the weeks, we've all watched her eagerly as she boldly stepped forward to protect the innocent bystanders that might have been victims at the most recent Stark party, and help everyone in her power who needs her. Above are pictures of her helping a currently unemployed and homeless ex Army Veteran, whose terminally ill dog she later paid to have surgery on, helping a young group of Girl Scouts, whose charity they were collecting for, and later donating 50,000 dollars to said charity.

Since the arrival of Miss Stark, charities have reported massive donations from the family. Children in Hati are sleeping on beds and their parent's sleep easy, with their families now having full stomachs and pain medication to soothe pain of the ever rising number of amputees.

The article went on, singing Bella's praises, but she walked away, feeling sick to her stomach. She never expected or desired publicity for what she had been doing, in fact, the idea that she was getting so much attention for it made her feel weird. She was just doing what was right, helping people made her happy and content, and now she had billions of dollars to help people with. She couldn't have been happier. But now she felt cheep, dirty even, as if it was her plan all along to be recognized for her work. She didn't like that. For a moment she almost wished that she had never accepted becoming a Stark, but she shook that thought quickly out of her head. No, she loved Tony, loved the Avengers, this is where she was meant to be.

Steve had followed her, and comfortingly grabbed her hand. He didn't understand why she was upset, she could tell, but she was grateful that he was there, comforting her regardless.

"Come on," He said. "Let's go get your pizza."

The pizza place wasn't too crowded, but there were a decent amount of people there, so the two didn't see the man who had been following them slip in behind them, and watch them as they talked for a bit. They were at the pizza parlor, his time had now come. They didn't see as he got up and walked over to them, they didn't even see him as he stopped in front of their table. He smirked.

"Hey guys!"


	13. And in comes the Storm

Bella jumped, surprised, looking up at the person who had just addressed them, her face lighting up at the sight of his familiar face. She leapt up, throwing her arms around him in one of her impulsive hugs.

"Johnny!" she exclaimed happily, exited to see her friend again. "It's great to see you!" Johnny smiled back at her with his cocky grin, hugging her back.

"Hey Bella," He said. "How've you been? I heard that you were having a bit of a tough time recently." Bella groaned.

"Ain't that the truth." Johnny laughed at that.

"That's what you get for not taking time off, you know." He said. Bella glared at him.

"What do you think that we're doing today Hotshot?" She teasingly snapped, gesturing to Steve. Johnny looked at Steve like he just realized he was there.

"Steve!" he said warmly, shaking his hand. "As handsome as ever I see." Bella giggled at that, it was surprisingly fun watching the two of them interact. Johnny sat down next to Bella, chatting animatedly to her. She saw Steve frowning out of the corner of her eye, like he was unhappy about something. She wondered momentarily what it possibly could have been, before Johnny recaptured her attention.

"So Bella, I know you're busy and all, what with those new guests at Stark Tower." He said, smiling at her. "But do you think you could come over to visit the Baxter Building sometime? I know everyone would enjoy seeing you again, and I know I just _love_ hanging out with you." He said with the flirty smirk that Bella had already become used to, from their one previous meeting. Bella considered it for a moment, she didn't really know the Fantastic Four that well, and it made her a little nervous to go over to their house so soon, but she had really enjoyed their company, and it gives her more ways to avoid the dreaded confrontation with Alice, and there was the fact that she only ever spent time with her family. She loved them, and they loved her, but it was starting to get a bit unhealthy, she depended on them too much, like she depended on the Cullens, she needed to get out, make some friends. Maybe even try dating again. Steve flashed into her mind, but she shook it off with a mental head shake. That was getting unhealthy too. Steve was family, he would never look at her in that way. She couldn't just sit and pine for him, she had enough of that for a lifetime. There were other fish in the sea, and she was an independent woman, who was in dire need of a rebound guy.

Still, she was a little uncomfortable with… oh, fuck it! She wasn't going to be that insecure little girl that she was with Edward anymore. She was Bella Stark, the badass that bested Natasha Romanoff in hand to hand combat, the woman that stood fearlessly in front of a rampaging Hulk. The one who faced down her mother. She wasn't a helpless little girl anymore, she was a woman, who made her own choices.

"I'd love that Johnny." She said with a bright smile, feeling lighter and freer than she ever had before. She and Johnny had talked for another hour, before Steve rather abruptly said that they should probably be getting back to the tower, his mouth still pulled into that small frown.

Alice stood across the small table from Loki, trying to find Victoria and Renee's futures so she could monitor them, but it was hard. She found a thread that may eventually lead to one of their futures, but as she followed it she was thrown back, mentally and physically. Loki was there in an instant, catching her before she reached the ground. His green eyes blazed at her for a minute, before he slowly righted her.

"It is as I feared. Renee has her own mental shield, like Isabella. We will not be able to monitor their movements with your gift, Alice. Alice felt a frustrated growl rising in her chest. She clutched her spikey hair and let it free, glaring darkly at the table.

"Perfect." She muttered. "Just peachy." Loki calmly looked on as she started to pace agitatedly. "How are we going to track them down now?"

"I have fought many wars without the use of foresight Alice, we can win this one without it as well." Loki said, serene as ever. Alice tugged at her hair again, furious at herself, at Loki, at the world in general. How did he do that? Be so calm, no matter what? Jasper had been like that to, but she just couldn't do it! She was all passion and energy, not an ounce of level headedness in her. She tried, tried for decades, but she just couldn't do it. Not to mention, every single time she was called by her name as of late, she just wanted to scream in agony. Suddenly she froze, a vision coming to her.

"Finally!" She exclaimed, before letting it consume her.

_Steve and Bella were talking animatedly to each other, and there was a different kind of intimacy that she had never seen before between them. But something was off about Steve. He was different. He talked different, held himself differently, he even dressed differently. Was there something wrong with him? This couldn't be Steve. _Suddenly her more recent gift kicked in, telling her that no, this was not Steven Rogers. _All of a sudden, the real Steve walked in, a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes. He seemed nervous somehow, and his eyes kept darting to Bella every few seconds._

"_Johnny." Steve said in an even voice. "Nice to see you again." Johnny smiled at Steve and Alice could witness guilt in his eyes. But that didn't stop him from putting an arm up on the back of the couch, his arm ghosting across Bella's back. She didn't move, she didn't even look uncomfortable, to the untrained eye, but Alice knew her sister too well. She had instinctively bit her lip the moment Steve's eyes saw Johnny's arm, betraying her._

"_Good to see you too Steve." Johnny said. _The vision faded to another scene then.

_Bella was standing on the roof of Stark Towers, and Bella was crying. Steve entered the roof, and quietly made his way over to her._

"_He's back." Bella sobbed. "I can't believe it, this is just my luck. I never wanted to see him again, and he's back. It's official, the worst things in my life happen at parties." Steve and Bella talked for a few minutes, before Steve gently cupped her face with his hands, and pulled her up into a gentle kiss._ The vision ended, and she had apparently fallen again, because Loki was standing over her, something akin to concern in his eyes.

"What is it Alice? What did you see?" he asked urgently. Alice shook her head, a small smile forming in her face.

"Nothing bad, I've been keeping an eye in Bella's future, and she just made a very potent decision, that's all. I wonder what it was."

"Tell me." Loki said at once, so she explained it all to him. He was silent, and she, now that the delightful shock had worn off, was feeling sad. Bella was human, something that Alice had never experienced, and she had love, something that Jasper had denied her. Loki noticed that she was upset.

"What disturbs you, my fair Alice?" He questioned, so, she admitted her silly sadness. Loki seemed to Debate something for a minute, before he spoke.

"Your desires are not 'silly' as you say, they are completely understandable. And while I do not have the power to return you to your human state, I can however, return your human memories to you." Alice bolted upright.

"Really?" she asked him, delighted. "You can do that?" Loki nodded.

"I believe that the reason for your loss once again lies with the boy Edward. I have senses that some of his influence still lingered, but it was of no danger, and you were beginning to rid yourself of it as it was, so I paid no mind. It would be a matter of moments for me to release you. Alice jumped out of her seat.

"Then do it!" She exclaimed at once. Loki nodded to her, and pressed her back into the seat. His hands were on her face, when suddenly, the locked door in her mind opened. Memories flooded into her, and she saw the true extent of the damage Edward had done to her. he had manipulated her from the start, since before she joined the Cullens. He was the one who turned her, who locked all her memories away during the transformation, and had even leaked the bit of information that she had known about herself, that she now knew was false.

"Alice?" Loki asked, the not-concern back. "Are you alright?" she shook her head.

"Not Alice, Elisabeth. I am Elisabeth Mary Cassidy, and I'm gonna _kill_ that bastard for locking me away."


	14. Conspiracy

**Hello my darlings! :) I've finally updated! I'm sorry that you had a little wait, but school has started up again for me and I'm aiming to graduate High School by January (Two years early) So, don't expect very frequent updates. But oh, what's this? is this really real intense progress on the Stella field in this chapter? why, I do believe it is! Please let me know what you think!**

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The trip back to the tower was uncomfortably silent. Tony had always been making comments about Steve being broody, but Bella had never believed them until now. She tried a couple times to start up one of their easy conversations, but they were met with coolness from Steve. She didn't try after the third time, and she started feeling slightly guilty. Bella shook her head; no, this wouldn't do, she couldn't go around feeling guilty when she had done absolutely nothing wrong. But, guilty she felt, so the walk back to the tower was full on discomfort. Steve looked straight forward, ramrod straight, like when they first met, never glancing her way. Well, if that's how it was going to be, two can play at that game. She fixed her posture, looked directly in front of her, and walked in utter silence. Of course, it was just her luck when her notorious clumsiness suddenly made it's return, and she tripped over her own feet. She felt the rush, saw the cement sidewalk coming up to meet her, and shut her eyes quickly. She never hit the ground; strong arms wrapped around her, keeping her from kissing the cement; she looked up to see incredibly concerned sea blue eyes, and wanted to cry at the amount of pain and sadness in them.

"Bella, are you alright?" He asked urgently, helping her to right herself. Bella nodded softly, her own chocolate colored eyes melting, her own pain evident. Everything seemed to intensify at once; Steve was sad, which made Bella hurt, which made Steve hurt over his pain hurting Bella. They were caught in this vicious cycle for a minute, before Bella broke free, pulling herself away, and continuing the walk back home. Steve didn't say anything, just followed her at a slightly slower pace. The moment they got back to the tower, Bella beelined for the library, which was always the place she went when she had a troubled mind. She made for her corner, and sighed when she finally got there, unseen by anyone in the tower, whether it be Avenger, Quileute or Cullen. She sank into her chair with a sigh, looking on her table for a book. She came across an object that made her freeze; Steve's drawing pad. She let out a wistful sigh, taking the pad into her lap, opening to the first page. She felt a pang when an all too familiar brunette with brown eyes stared back at her; Peggy, the love of Steve's life. She quickly flipped to the next page, but was again confronted with an image of Peggy. She bit her lip, flipping to the next page. A tear fell from her eye as she was again confronted with Peggy's face, and then the dam broke. She flung the pad to the side, bringing up her legs and curling her arms around them, sobbing like she had never had a broken heart before. She wallowed in her own misery for a while, sobbing uncontrollably to herself, happy that no one was there to comfort her. She needed this, needed the pain, needed the tears. When she was done, she picked the pad back up. She must have been a masochist, to want to look at proof of Steve's devotion to Peggy more, but she did. She was suffering a mixture of disappointment and relief when, to her surprise, the picture that came next was not of Peggy, but of her.

It was of the day she arrived, the day she finally found her home. There she was, that button down shirt doing little to hide her protruding ribs, her hair pulled back into that braid, looking down at her feet shyly. Steve had drawn her in a practical way, no romanticism about it, like Peggy's pictures, but she was glad, this was her, really her, not some corny picture of her in a ball dress, with firelight shadowing her face. She was skinny, underdeveloped, awkward, and her face was slightly out of proportion, due to her overly full lips and too big eyes. She wanted to smile at the skinny girl, who seemed to be lifetimes away right now, and a spark of contentment flickered to life within her. She flipped to the next page, and laughed outright; the Cullen Confrontation. There she was, in that uniform, her hair in wild curls, knife in one hand, taser in the other, flat on the ground, right after she knocked out the blonde bitch. On the same page, just below that drawing, was one of Edward, prone on the ground after the epic asskicking her family had given him, the arrow still up his asshole, and gripping the place where Bella had cut his manhood off in horror. After that particularly enjoyable one came one of her and Nat, sparring, that first time that she had actually managed to best her. Again, the picture was real, she looked a little gross in fact. She was disheveled, covered on sweat, and her hair was a mess, but a proud and happy expression was clear on her face. The next picture was of the two of them, laughing together just after first watching Star Trek. Another was of him carrying her away, up to the family movie night, and yet another of them playing truth or dare, specifically her, a mischievous smirk on her face.

Were all these pictures about her? The next one made her freeze; it was her, in that pretty blue dress, her hair gracefully upswept, a small smile on her face as she glanced over her shoulder, but what really made her stop and stare was the fact that she actually, for the very first time, considered herself to be truly beautiful. And the most insane part of the picture was the fact that this was so incredibly obviously cast in a romantic light. A _romantic_ light; as in, he looked at her in a romantic way. Bella's brain short circuited. Steve liked Bella, like, liked her, and she had just blown him off, thinking that she had no chance, thinking that there were other fish in the sea; had she irrevocably messed up? Did she completely ruin any chance she had of them being together? Oh god, she hoped not. She sprang out of her chair, the pad again falling to the floor, and ran back out to the hallway. She raced over to the elevators, waiting impatiently for one to arrive.

"Come in, come on!" She muttered exasperatedly. "Jarvis, where's Steve?"

"Mister Rogers is in his bedroom Princess." Jarvis replied. Bella nodded and continued waiting impatiently for an elevator. One finally arrived, and with an exultant, "Yes!" she sped inside, punching the number for Steve's floor. The elevator, normally so fast it often took Bella's breath away, could not have moved more slowly. When at last she reached the correct floor, she raced all the way to Steve's door, knocking insistently.

"Steve? It's Bella, can I please come in?" she asked, her voice pleading. "Steve? Jarvis, is Steve still in there?"

"Indeed."

"Is he sleeping?"

"He is not currently sleeping, Princess." Bella's heart dropped down into her stomach, he was ignoring her. She still had to try though, still had to give love her best shot. She knocked on the door again, softer this time.

"Steve please." She begged in a quiet voice, she knew his advanced hearing could pick up on it just fine. "Let me in, I _need_ to talk to you." Nothing. She continued to plead and beg, but there was never any response. With a choked little _"Steve"_, Bella finally left, not paying attention to where she went, her only thought 'away'.[i] She stumbled into an empty room, in an unfinished area of the tower, and curled up in a corner, crying her eyes out for the second time that day. This was different though, she craved companionship this time around, but was loath to bring any of the Avengers in on this. Family or not, what she desperately needed right now was a girlfriend, someone who would coo over her and take care of her, sympathizing and eating ice cream while watching chick flicks. And, in an uncharacteristically astonishing bout of long overdue good luck, she was provided with it.

"Bella?" Came an incredibly familiar voice. Bella's head snapped up; there, in all her kind hearted, _beautiful_ glory, stood Angela Webber. Bella immediately jumped up, ran over to her friend, collapsed in her arms, and started weeping anew, this time in everlasting gratitude and conviction that there was, in fact a god, and he actually didn't despise her very existence. Angela, to her credit, immediately took the situation in stride, patting Bella on the back, and whispering soothing words to her. In choked whispers and shaky hiccoughs, Bella told Angela everything, from the moment she left, to just now in front of Steve's door. They sat together, Angela still rubbing Bella's back and cooing over her, helped her up after she was done with her little tale.

"Come on." She said in her sweet voice. "let's get you to Emily, I'm sure she has a tub of brownie batter and some chocolate chip cookies with your name on it." Angela and Bella walked together, a comforting arm wrapped around Bella's waist, to the guest art of the tower, Bella's knowledge of her home very useful in avoiding the main passages, so as not to be seen by anyone else. It made for a longer trip, but it was worth it not to run into anyone. Emily was in the rooms alone, with her baby girl, the wolves all gone out with Loki and Alice on a raid against one of the warehouses rumored to be holding Victoria's Army.

"Bella!" Emily exclaimed warmly, leaping up to embrace her. She stopped short when she saw Bella's tear streaked face, and looked concerned. "Oh, what's wrong honey?" warmth filled Bella to the core with that motherly concern. Angela maneuvered Bella onto the couch, and explained everything to Emily in hushed tones. In the meantime, Bella stared at the baby sitting across from her blankly. The baby stared back, neither of them blinking, just staring, Bella's mind a million miles away. Bella finally blinked, and the baby mimicked her. Bella sighed, and the baby sighed too. That caught her attention. Bella slowly moved her right arm, becoming distracted and amused when Emily's baby continued to mimic her. A small smile actually graced her face, this baby was incredibly smart for being less than a year old, the baby smiled back. Suddenly Emily's arms were wrapped tight around her in a maternal embrace.

"Oh Bella!" Emily exclaimed, "I'm so sorry!" she continued to fuss over her, giving her a nice fuzzy blanket, a bowl of brownie batter, a plate of cookies, and a tall glass of milk. She finally realized what her daughter was doing, and said with an amused smile. "It appears Isabelle has taken to her namesake." Bella stared at Emily disbelievingly.

"You named your daughter after me?" and, because today had been apparently dubbed "International Crying Day", she burst out into tears again, her high strung emotions getting the better of her. Immediately two sets of loving arms circled around her, and, in that beautiful womanly manner, all three girls bawled their eyes out. When the storm finally cleared up, the girls curled up together, putting in 'The Notebook', and drinking wine.

"Now, _that's_ devotion!" Bella slurred, taking another swig if her wine. The girls fervently nodded their approval, both of them tipsy themselves. "Girls always dream about stuff like that, you know? Prince Charming, serenades, kisses in the rain. But let me tell you," She said, pointing dramatically at the screen. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. Edward was like that; he took me to dances, bought me stuff, came riding in on a white horse and swept me off me feet. But that bastard was so controlling! He didn't let me do anything. I dressed the way he wanted me to dress, did my hair the way he liked, acted the way he wanted me to act. It was all a big fat stinking sham. I say Prince Charming can go fuck himself! All a want is a good person. He doesn't have to be rich, or handsome. I don't want a 'happily ever after', I want a life, a real, honest to god _life_. I like working, I like giving, I like reading. I liked my old truck, and I like pancakes, you know? I don't need a castle, I don't even need a picket fence, I just want to do something _worthwhile_."

"Hear hear!" Emily and Angela agreed. By the time the movie was over, the girls were all plastered and little Isabelle was fast asleep, curled up on Bella's lap. Emily carefully placed her daughter in the crib, and stumbled back over to the couch. They put another movie on, and talked all the way through it, brushing each other's hair. Bella and Angela had just started to doze when a knock sounded at the door. Emily went to go get it, and revealed Sam, dirty, tired, but uninjured. A quiet conversation between the married couple took place, and it seemed like Emily was trying to send Sam away for the night. To the amusement of Sam and the girls, Emily was drunk too, and was slurring her words, as well as saying some ridiculous things. It finally ended with this phrase:

"I don't care if you're tired, we're having girl time, so either go sleep with Paul or stay in the dog kennel, good night!" Bella made a mental note in her head as she succumbed to sleep; Emily got crabby when she was drunk.

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When Emily and Angela woke, they immediately contacted Pepper, Natasha, their team, including Johnny Storm, and all of Team Stella. They explained what had happened last night, and started to plead with the two teams, begging them to work together.

"Swallow your pride." Emily said. "This is for Bella." Tony, Clint, Pepper and Natasha eyed each other, before shaking hands. Angela smiled.

"Perfet." She said. "Now all we need is a new plan."

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Bella woke to a pounding headache the next morning. She was apparently the last one up, because the bed was empty. She surreptitiously opened one eye, expecting blinding light, but the windows were sufficiently shuttered, leave it to Tony Stark to have hangover proof window shutters. She spotted aspirin and a glass of water on the side table, and gratefully swallowed it. She followed the enticing smell of pancakes into the little kitchen installed in the guest floor. Emily was bustling about the kitchen, cooking away, and Angela was sitting at the counter, writing on her laptop. The moment they spotted Bella, she was sat down, a huge stack of pancakes set in front of her. She ate hungrily, her headache already going away. The pills must have actually been Tony's miracle hangover cure. Angela and Emily waited patiently for Bella to be done, before they called everyone, minus Steve, in and told her everything.

"Let me get this straight." Bella said. "My entire family has been separately plotting to get me and Steve together for _months_ now, and everyone who meets the two of us immediately joins up to 'Team Stella', or start working for Nat and Pep, who are now calling themselves Salt and Pepper, including Johnny, who _deliberately tried_ to get Steve and me on less better terms, so that somehow we could get together, which is utter bullshit, by the way, and now everyone has joined forces, and wants me to go and _try_ to make Steve jealous, instead of coming right out and telling him that I love him, when you all say that you're sure he loves me too. Did I miss anything?"

"Nope, that basically sums the entire situation up." Tony said, leaning up against the wall.

"Oh, well, now that I have everything, no." Bella said, getting up to leave. She was immediately blockaded by everyone else in the room.

"Hear us out Bella." Natasha said, pushing Bella back onto her chair. "Steve overreacted to what happened yesterday, and ignoring you was a horrible thing to do."

"Especially when you sounded so pathetic." Clint chimed in, and was whacked upside the head by Nat, who rolled her eyes.

"Like I said, it was not a very nice thing to do, not to mention he lost a chance for you two getting together. We think that he needs to be taught a lesson, and you need to learn the extent of your power."

"_My power_?" Bella repeated. "That's horrible!" Nat sighed.

"We didn't mean it like that." Pepper said. "We think it would be very good for the both of you. Steve will learn that you can slip through his fingers, a good lesson that every guy should know, and you will hopefully learn just how precious you truly are."

Bella sighed, raking her fingers through her hair, considering. "You really think this will be a good thing?" she asked everyone.

"Yes!" The all responded at once, causing her to sigh again.

"All right!" she exclaimed. "You wore me down, I'll do it." A collective cheer rang through the room. Bella stood, holding out her hand to Johnny. "We going to do this or not?" Pepper cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"It may be better if you cleaned yourself up first Bella." She pointed out. Bella had only just realized that she was in the same clothes as yesterday. She blushed and allowed Nat, Pepper, Sue Storm, Angela and Emily to lead her back up to her room. She took a shower while the women picked out her clothing, and subjugated herself to a good hour of the women fussing over her, reminding herself that it was for a good cause. When they were done, Bella looked positively angelic in a white sundress, with loose princess curls hanging in her shoulders. It was then that she and Johnny installed themselves in the living room, where Steve was bound to go.

They sat on the couch, talking animatedly. Steve and Johnny really were different, it showed in everything. The way they dressed, the way they talked, and they held themselves differently. Suddenly the door opened and Steve came in, a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes.

"Johnny." Steve said in an even voice, trying not to look at Bella. "Nice to see you again." Johnny smiled at Steve, a little guiltily, putting his arm casually on the couch behind Bella's back, his arm just touching her. She made herself stay, looking easy minded, a fake smile on her face. She was a terrible liar, this plan was doomed. Steve's seemed to buy it though, his eyes drawn to the spot where they were touching. She suddenly realized that she was biting her lip, damn.

"Good to see you too Steve." Johnny said. They exchanged some other worthless pleasantries, and Steve left for the kitchen.

_"Phase one complete."_ Tony's voice said to them through their earpieces. _"Target has seen them together, proceed to phase two."_

**(Steve POV)**

Steve was slowly going insane.

Johnny had been hanging around Stark Tower every day for the past week, and he and Bella were joined at the hip. Maybe this was punishment for ignoring Bella when she came to see him, her broken 'Steve' still wreaking havoc in his mind. But he had wanted some alone time, and Bella was so beautifully distracting. He would have opened the door with arms wide however, if that had meant avoiding this hell on Earth.

Seeing Johnny and Bella together, all affectionate and lovey hurt, because it was like seeing him and Bella together, which made it ten times worse.

And he thought he hated the fact that he and Johnny looked alike before.

The last straw however, was one Anthony Stark.

Steve had established himself in Bella's corner, it was the only place he felt peace anymore. Tony walked in confidently, taking Bella's chair without a thought.

"I hate Johnny Storm." He said bluntly. "He's not good for Bella." And then he preceded to go on a rant about how he wished Bella could stay in the family, how Johnny couldn't possibly treat his goddaughter right. But what really broke away the last of his resolve was his final line, delivered just as he was leaving.

"I wish you had asked her out, at least I'd have the satisfaction of seeing the one I care about most in the hands that I trust the most. If I have to see your face getting all mushy with my goddaughter, I'd like to at least get the benefits."

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**Please Review!  
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	15. Elisabeth Cassidy

**I have an update for you my thrice beloved readers! I'm sorry that I can't update more, but school is literally killing me. Lol not really, but it's very hard and it's taking up all of my time. Though, in my exhausted brain stuffed with chemistry, physics, and Algebra, an inspiration struck.  
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**In all of my stories I like to leave room for several stories to tell, and in this particular story my primary side story is the war between Victoria/Renee and Loki/Alice, and I'm inspired to tell that one, but I would like to know if it's one that you're interested in reading. The characters in this story that I slightly neglect, like Bruce, are more prominent in it. **

**Let me know if you want me to tell the story of the war against Victoria, and enjoy the update!**

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A week had passed since the conspiracy to get Bella and Steve together was unveiled, and Bella was having a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings. Reality was just too horrible to face these days, Steve was an utter wreck, though he did his best to appear normal, there was a hollow, sad look in his eyes, Bella wanted more than anything to take away that needless pain, but her stupid friends were always there to intercept, claiming that this was a good thing. So much had changed since the day of their 'not date', they no longer spent any time together during the day, Steve avoiding her like the plague, no longer coming up to her room to watch tv with her, which, in lesser levels of suckage, was bad because they had just hit a massive cliffhanger. They no longer spent time together in Bella's corner of the library, though she knew he had been there several times alone. Bella was in a private hell, watching Steve despair like that, and had a constant mantra in her head, telling her that she was a strong woman, and she didn't need a man in her life to be happy.

It was hard seeing the man she loved in so much pain though.

She woke up to a sunny, beautiful Saturday. There was no training with Nat on weekends, and it was absolutely gorgeous out, but Bella wanted nothing more than to curl back up and hide once again in the world of dreams. Well, not exactly more than anything. What she truly wanted more than anything was for Steve to be here with her in bed, to wake up with her back against his chest, and to feel his strong, warm arms around her. She would sigh when she woke up, and instead on instinctively curling up on herself, dreading the day to come, she would flip herself around, cuddling into Steve, sighing contentedly again, as he tangled his fingers in her hair and they shared lazy kisses, slow and sweet, just being together, having a lazy day, curled up on each other and doing those cute coupley things that they always seemed to be doing, maybe even staying in bed all day, having one of the employees bring them food, and have a movie marathon. Or they could do other things, more… _energetic_ things. But Steve wasn't in bed with her, they weren't together, and she had to get up and face another day of pretending to date Johnny, and watching Steve slowly self destruct from the inside.

It was amazing that she could pull that sort of response from him, she mulled as she rose from bed and went to her closet, looking through the Stark Tablet installed on the wall to program what outfit she wanted. But it had happened. She had apparently become Steve's driving force in life, the one that put the spark of life in his deep cerulean eyes, and according to Natasha and old WWII films, had brought back a Steve Rogers not seen since the death of Bucky Barnes, his closest friend for the majority of his life. She decided on a short denim skirt, with cutout tights in a floral pattern, a sheer white overshirt over a sapphire blue tank top. She fixed her hair into a more attractive bedhead, and was about to head out the door when she heard her front door opening. She poked her head out of her bedroom, and gave a now rare genuine smile when she saw Angela.

"Hey Ange, what's up?" She asked, a little more cheerful than she was a minute ago. Angela smiled back at her and took a seat on her couch, Bella plopping down beside her a moment later.

"Not much with me, but it's kind of hectic over in the Warzone." She said with a shrug. Tony had once called the area of the tower where the Quileutes, Loki, Alice and Angela were staying the Warzone, and it had just stuck, everyone adopting it.

"Any idea why that is?" Bella asked curiously. Angela shrugged again.

"I think they're having problems locating another of Victoria's warehouses, apparently she has a ton of them all over the country, and is quickly filling them up with Newborns and Weapons to fight with." Bella nodded with a small sigh.

"Ugh, I feel so out of the loop! I don't even know what's going on in the ongoing war to save my life!" Bella's head thumped back down on the couch, groaning. Angela gave her a sympathetic look, and put a comforting arm around her.

"You know." She said quietly. "You can always go down to there, no one will get upset or anything." Bella shook her head.

"There's a reason why I barely go anywhere near that area Ange, after the last time I saw the Cullens, I closed that chapter of my story, and I have no desire to revisit old pain by seeing Alice." Angela gave Bella a long, steady look, no judgment, just considering.

"I think it might be good for you to revisit this Bella. You never knew the whole story, and Alice is a different person now." Bella gave Angela a hard look, mentally debating.

"You really think so?" She asked, her resolve fading a bit.

"I really do, she's become a pretty good friend these last few weeks, and she's nothing like the Alice we knew before." Bella bit her lip, and nodded.

"Alright, I'll go, I've been wanting to ask Loki some questions anyways."

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**(Alice POV)**

Alice sat on the couch of the apartment she shared with Angela. She never spent much time here, working day and night in the small baseroom she and Loki had set up. It wasn't like she needed sleep, so she only used the apartment to keep her clothes, which consisted of a considerably less amount, not now that she no longer had a constant need to fill the gap in her mind with things. She had tried to go by her real name for a bit, but everyone just got so confused that she went back to calling herself Alice by the end of the week. A few people managed to call her Elisabeth, Loki for one, and his brother Thor as well, but to the majority of the group she just went by Alice.

She didn't see a lot of the Avengers, they mostly went about their own business, saving the world and such, but two members had started sticking around quite a bit.

Thor of course was a given, he desperately wanted to repair the relationship he had with Loki, and, surprisingly, she had seen Bruce Banner hovering around the Warzone quite a bit, lending aid to the search for Victoria as much as he possibly could. She hadn't seen Bella yet either, which she deeply regretted. At first she was trying to leave her some space, let her get used to the idea of Alice being around, then she would hopefully come to Alice she could explain herself. Time passed, and Bella never came. Alice had tried to corner her once or twice in the last week, but Bella's future flickered in and out as her power grew, and the extreme emotional stress she was under strengthened them significantly. So, she gave up reconciling with Bella for the time being, and devoted herself to making her safe.

Suddenly she heard two girls, laughing their way down the hall. She froze when she recognized them. Angela and Bella. Bella was coming. But she didn't want to see Alice, she had made that clear. Well, it was too late, Bella would see her no matter what now, unless she jumped out the window, and it was a sunny day out. The door slid open, and the two girls walked in, arm in arm. Once upon a time, that would be her and Bella arm in arm, but part of that was forced, Edward repressing parts of their personality. The girls stopped when they saw Alice, who jumped to her feet, staying stock still.

"Hey Alice." Angela said warmly. She turned to Bella. "I'll be at Emiliy's." she said, patting her on the arm comfortingly and walking out, leaving them alone. Bella and Alice stood there awkwardly, both of them shy and unsure on how to start the needed conversation.

"I'm so sorry Bella!" Alice suddenly blurted out, before clapping a hand to her head. "Damn, I meant to do that a bit better, but of course I had to just go and blurt it out!" she looked to Bella. "I really am sorry Bella, so so sorry. I manipulated you, forced you to do things and wear things that you didn't want to, I was just as bad as Edward, and what I did to you will always be my greatest regret. I don't expect you to forgive me Bella, but I do want you to, very, _very_ badly." Bella sighed and sat down on the couch.

"From what I heard Alice, your actions weren't exactly your own." Alice nodded and sat across from her, in a squashy armchair.

"Edward was manipulating me from the get go, I may not have been brainwashed like the rest for very long time, but I was still under his power, from the very start."

"Then start." Bella prompted. Alice nodded and promptly began her tale.

"I was born in Chicago, Illinois in the year 1901." Bella jumped.

"But, I thought you were born in Biloxi?" she asked. Alice shook her head.

"That's what I thought too, but it's not the truth. I was born in the same city as Edward, in the same year as well."

"Did you know each other?" Bella asked curiously. Alice bit her lip and nodded.

"Our parents were good friends, I was even named after Edward's mother." Bella shook her head.

"But…Edward's mother's name was Elisabeth." Bella said, confused. Alice nodded.

"That's my real name Bella, Elisabeth Cassidy." Bella gave Alice an astounded look, her eyes wide, like a fish. Alice continued with her story.

"I grew up with Edward, it was kind of inevitable really, what with the engadement."

"WHAT?" Bella yelled, jumping up. "You and Edward were _engaged_?" Alice nodded, an ugly frown crossing her beautiful face.

"Against my will, yes. Our parents arranged it when we were ten, and we were forced to be together all the time until the day he died."

"What happened when Carlisle changed Edward?" Bella asked, getting sucked in to the story. Alice sighed, rubbing her temples.

"I've had this knowledge of the future for my entire life Bella, my parents were understanding, they loved me, no matter what, but they died from the influenza too, and I was shipped off to my aunt and uncle in Biloxi, who weren't as understanding."

"They put you in the Asylum." Bella realized, and Alice nodded.

"I take it Edward told you about his little stint away from Carlisle and Esme's life?" she asked, and Bella nodded. "Well, he wasn't just draining rapists dry, I can tell you that." Understanding flashed across Bella's face.

"Edward turned you?" She asked incredulously. Alice nodded again.

"He was hunting in Biloxi with a Newborn he had created when he sensed my power. He was drawn to it, wanted to harvest it for himself. But he had a small problem, I was his Newborn's singer."

"James? Edward turned James too?!" Alice could tell that Bella was reeking with every bomb she dropped, so she stopped for a minute, to let Bella calm down. When Bella sat back down and nodded for her to continue, she resumed.

"James rebelled against Edward, going after me. By the time Edward found us, I was too drained of blood to possibly survive, if he wanted any of my power, he was forced to turn me, so he did. He messed with my brain while it was transforming though, wiping all of my memories, and making sure that I would one day find him again. He left then, went back to Carlisle and Esme, and I, like the good little slave he conditioned me to be, found him a few decades later with Jasper." Alice rose then and starte pacing.

"I might have been under his control, but I had enough wits about me to realize that he was manipulating everyone, so I slowly started to resist. He fought back of course, and our little war was just reaching its height when we arrived in Forks." Alice stopped, a mournful look crossing her face.

"I had just successfully managed to free Rosalie when you arrived." She started pacing again. "I could feel it, exactly when you arrived you know, I could feel your own power. Unfortunately, so could Edward. He finally had a second chance to harvest the pure power out of a human body, and this time he found someone even more powerful than me." Alice sat back down , looking at Bella straight in the eyes.

"Rose and I knew that we couldn't let him get his claws in you, so we tried to keep the two of you apart. I pushed every boy I could find toward you, while Rose acted like a queen bitch in hopes to scare you away." Alice curled up on herself, shuddering at the memory of what came next.

"Unfortunately, splitting our focus like that weakened our mental shields, allowing Edward into our minds, and we were his puppets ever since." Alice sighed. Both girls were quiet for a minute, before Bella spoke up.

"How did you escape Edward's influence?" she asked. Alice frowned.

"Edward stunted my power as much as he could, trying to harvest it for himself, but I was still in there, and I started to fight it, my power getting stronger every day, until, one day, the spell broke, I was Disenchanted." Bella nodded, and began to stare steadily at Alice for a good long while. Alice stood still, waiting for her verdict.

"You really are a different person now, aren't you?" she asked softly. Alice nodded, looking sorrowfully at Bella.

"Is there any way you could possibly forgive me Bella? I know I've done horrible things to you, but I want more than anything to make amends." Bella considered this for a moment, and then slowly shook her head.

"I don't think I can ever forgive what was done." She said, and Alice's dead heart broke. A small smile crept it's way onto Bella's face, confusing Alice.

"However," She looked at Alice. "I'm not the girl you manipulated, and you're not the person who manipulated her." Hope started to rise in the room. "I don't really know you, and you don't really know me." She stood, walking over to Alice, sticking out her hand.

"Hello, I'm Isabella Stark, it's nice to meet you." She said. A wide smile lit up Alice's face as she lightly grabbed Bella's hand, giving it a small shake.

"Elisabeth Cassidy, it's nice to meet you too Isabella."


End file.
